Mothering
by Mystic Lover of the fairytale
Summary: Sarah Jane is a mother and it's not an easy job especially when your child is a genetically engineered child created by an alien race and knows nothing about the world
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I own no one**

**Thoughts : So I was thinking as to why Luke is socially inept even though he has the minds of 10,000 humans, so I think Mrs. Wormwood took out anything she deemed unnecessary and he was only filled with academic knowledge .**

Three days, that's how long it had been since Sarah Jane Smith (investigative reporter, former companion to the Doctor, journalist and alien hunter) had been a mother. It wasn't as if she had time to prepare for it. Some women have nine months to prepare, others might have years; Sarah Jane had absolutely no time. Luke was suddenly thrust into her life with no warning. If he had been a normal child, it would be slightly easier, but Luke was created by the Bane. He was an artificial human who looked thirteen years old, but was actually only a week old. He was still learning about the world. He was a genius and could recite the theory of relativity at the drop of a hat, but didn't know who was in the top 40 that week. Sarah Jane was grateful for Maria, their young neighbor. Maria had been the very first human Luke had encountered, even before he had met Sarah Jane. She had been over every day armed with dvds, magazines, and books teaching Luke everything that most kids his age knew.

Today, however, Maria was visiting her mother and couldn't come over, so Luke was left with nothing to do. Sarah Jane had set him down with the crossword puzzle from the paper, which he finished in ten minutes. Then she had found a complicated alien puzzle for him to put together which he completed in less than twenty minutes. He perched on his chair watching Sarah Jane work on an article.

"I don't know what to do, Sarah Jane." He said breaking the silence. Sarah Jane sighed quietly, then looked at him.

"As soon as I finish this article we'll go to the library then the grocery store, all right? Why don't you go watch telly until then? I'll be five minutes." She said without thinking. Luke headed into the front room. Sarah Jane could hear the tv come on, tuned to a kids programme by the sounds of the cheerful music. She managed to write several more paragraphs before she was interrupted. Luke stood there staring at her.

"You said five minutes, it's been five minutes." He said.

"I didn't really mean five minutes, it's just a saying that's all people us it all the time." Sarah Jane explained, "I'll come get you when it's time to go, okay."

"Okay." he said agreeably, heading back into the front room.

Twenty minutes later, they were driving to the local library. Sarah Jane turned off the engine and turned to him. She realized as they were driving that this was the first time Luke had stepped foot in a library, so she was going to need to lay down a few ground rules for him and explain the rules of etiquette.

"When we get in there you can't yell, people go there to try to study. Don't wander off or talk to strangers." She said, Luke nodded and they headed into the library. It was rather big. They headed toward the children's section and after giving Luke explicit instructions again to not wander off, she headed toward the non-fiction section. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Luke grab a load of books and head over to the one of the tables. Satisfied he'd be occupied for hopefully the next half hour, she decided to look for books on parenting, though she knew there were no books on raising genetically engineered children…

Luke did not understand fairy tales. For one thing, they were scientifically impossible. Pumpkins could not turn into coaches and mice could not turn into people, cats could not talk and beanstalks could not grow so high you could climb them. If he kissed a frog he would probably get warts and it would not turn into a prince and he knew all that. If he put a pea between ten mattresses he would not feel it. He stood up gathering the stack of books to put back. Toward the front of the children's area was a small area with kid sized furniture and beanbag chairs scattered about, nearly every seat was occupied by a child. Others were sprawled on the floor. All of them seemed enthralled by something. Luke then saw the woman, she was wearing an old fashioned dress and red cape with hood and was holding up a book with a picture of a girl in a red cape and hood. Red Riding Hood a story of a little girl who was eaten by a wolf as was her grandmother, but wolves didn't eat people.

"Wolves don't eat people." He said, the lady lowered her book as every child turned to stare at him.

The lady smiled, "It's just a children's story." She said.

"But it isn't true because wolves are scared of humans. They stay away from people." Luke said, "and how can kissing a frog turn it into a prince. Frogs can't turn into princes."

The lady managed to keep her smile while saying in an overly cheerful voice, "That's why they're called fairytales, love, they're meant to entertain children."

Sarah Jane headed towards the children section. She could hear Luke and what sounded like a woman. It sounded a bit like an argument, but not really. She got closer and saw several children looking as if they were watching a tennis match their heads swiveling back and forth from Luke to the woman who was dressed like Little Red Riding Hood. Sarah Jane could see that woman was nearly losing her patience even though she kept on smiling probably for the sake of the children who were listening quite intently. Sarah Jane decided to intercede. She headed over and cleared her throat, Luke turned around, "Sarah Jane!" He said.

The woman looked up. "Are you his mother?" she asked. She didn't wait for an answer and plunged ahead, "Your child is very…um…opinionated." she said which Sarah Jane knew was code for _"Your son is very rude"_.

Sarah Jane forced a smile on her face, "I know." She said steering Luke away from the story area. She waited until he found some books, then they proceeded to check out.

Tesco's parking lot was crowded with Saturday shoppers by the time they got there, and Sarah Jane had to circle around twice before she found a parking space. She and Luke headed toward the store as she grabbed a trolley. Music piped through hidden speakers. Luke grabbed her arm, his eyes wide as he took in all the colors and sights.

"Sarah Jane, there's music in the ceiling." He said.

Sarah Jane smiled, "It's coming from the speakers on the ceiling. See?" She said, pointing to the various speakers on the ceiling.

"But where is it coming from?" Luke persisted.

"There's a radio in the manager's office." Sarah Jane replied.

"Could I go see it?" He asked. Sarah Jane shook her head studying a package of frozen peas. She wondered if Luke would be like most kids and hate vegetables or if he would like them because of his "background". She dropped them in the trolley regardless. She was about to ask him something, but when she turned around he was nowhere to be found. She groaned, kicking herself mentally for not going over the rules with him. She looked down each aisle and finally found him where the biscuits were. To her chagrin, he had actually opened up a package. She pushed the trolley forward, glad they were only ones in the aisle which was a bit strange. Though Sarah Jane had a feeling everyone was at the front of the store because of some promotion.

She took the package from him. He had eaten at least one row. She couldn't really scold him. How was he to know that he couldn't just open up a package of something in a store and eat it? He was only three days old after all. She dropped the package in the trolley. She had to explain to him why he couldn't just do that.

"Luke, you can't open packages before you pay for them. It's not done." Sarah Jane said, "Because people will think you're stealing it."

"But we're going to pay for it, right? So if you pay for it, it isn't stealing. Besides Maria says her Mum sometimes does that. She eats the whole thing, like a bag of crisps, then pays for them." Luke stated innocently, Sarah Jane decided to talk to Maria about the stories she told Luke. She closed her eyes briefly, she had to take this one day at a time, he was still learning and things were still new to him.

**A/N : Not sure if this should be a oneshot or a multi chapter you the reviewers decide**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own the headmistress at Park Vale (the one that is going to be replaced by the Slitheen)**

As smart as Luke was, Sarah Jane knew in her heart that he needed to go to school. He would suffer far more if she kept him at home while Maria-who he had formed a fierce attachment to-went off and made new friends without him. Sarah-Jane was going to give him as good a normal life as she could give him. Besides the aliens.

One morning when Luke was at Maria's (she hadn't wanted to panic him before she had even made a decision) she had Mr. Smith retrieve and put up a list of local schools. The closest one within walking distance was Park Vale Comprehensive School. It had quite impressive results-thankfully not overly impressive, Sarah-Jane thought, remembering the impossible grades gained by alien interference in the canteen. The last thing she wanted was to send her son to a school infested by aliens. Park Vale was ideal in its location as she didn't want Luke travelling too far, and was wary about him taking a bus; she was afraid he'd get distracted as he often did by what seemed to be the smallest thing but to him was massive, and end up getting off at the wrong stop. Then again, what if he forgot to look when crossing a busy road and got hit by a car? Or took a wrong turn and got lost? Or-

Sarah-Jane stopped herself. She was being paranoid.

In the end, it was Maria who clinched the deal. When she and Luke came back to Sarah-Jane's house she quietly took Maria aside to voice her plans, and Maria seemed enthusiastic about the idea of her going to Park Vale.

"I'm going there," she said, looking deeply relieved. "If he goes, he won't be alone. And I'll look after him, he'll be fine."

Safe in the knowledge that he'd have someone to look out for him and a read-made friend, Sarah-Jane arranged to have an interview at the school with the Headmistress. She tried cunning about how she told Luke, to keep it cool so as not to panic him. It didn't work.

"So…" she began casually the night before the interview, and Luke turned away from the television.

"What is it?" he asked questioningly.

"I hear Maria is going back to school. At Park Vale Comprehensive. Is that right?"

"Yes," Luke answered simply. Sarah-Jane realised that she would have to be the one to extend the conversation.

"I was thinking of sending you to school," she said. "How do you feel about that?" Luke frowned.

"School is where you learn things?" he checked, looking concerned. Sarah-Jane nodded.

"Yes. Like science and maths-"

"I already know about science and maths." His anxious interruption took Sarah-Jane aback-it was rare for him to interrupt her.

"You can always learn more," she said, taking on a stern parenting voice as best she could. "And besides, you might make new friends. And Maria's going there."

"I suppose…will I go every day?"

"Just five days a week. You'll get Saturdays and Sundays off, and holidays."

"How many?"

"Um…quite a few," Sarah-Jane answered vaguely, with absolutely no idea. "It'll be fun, trust me. Think it over."

She left a troubled Luke to his thoughts, cursing inwardly about how the conversation had gone. She decided not to tell him about the interview yet.

* * *

On the morning of the interview Sarah-Jane had Mr Smith print off Luke's entirely fake records and went downstairs, finding Luke with his nose stuck in a book as usual.

"Go and put on your jacket and shoes, Luke," she told him, and with near comical obedience Luke jumped up and ran upstairs. Sarah-Jane thought it a good thing that Luke he obeyed her without hesitation, but worried occasionally that he was too eager to impress her, and wondered if he was really at ease with her yet.

Her thoughts were interrupted as he came down, jacket and shoes on as requested.

Ten minutes later they were sitting on the plush chairs in the corridor in front of the Headmistresses' office waiting to be called in-she had another parent in there, so she had told them to sit and wait for her.

Sarah Jane looked over at Luke and saw he was fidgeting, clenching and unclenching his hands and generally shifting around in his seat as though desperate to leap up and bolt out of the school. It was times like this that reminded Sarah Jane of how young Luke really was-he was never very good at sitting still for long periods of time, and she wasn't sure if it was a normal kid thing or if it was a 'Luke' thing. She was about to tell him not to fidget when the door opened and a lone, dark skinned woman came out, hastily apologising over her shoulder to the headmistress over the fact that her son simply couldn't have attended the interview as he was ill. Sarah-Jane, being a journalist, wasn't fooled by the lie. She didn't know why she wanted to prevent the school from meeting her son-Clyde, she thought she heard the name amongst the apologies and many 'thank you for you time's. She wondered with a twinge of worry what sort of students attended the school.

A few minutes later, the secretary came out and gave them an overly cheery smile that neither of them returned; Sarah-Jane was irritated at being kept waiting, and Luke was so nervous about the situation that he looked like he was about to be sick. "Miss Smith, Mrs. Blythe will see you and Luke now," she said, stepping to one side and holding the door open for them.

Sarah Jane stood up, gathered up her papers and motioned for Luke to follow her, who did so, staring intently at his shoes. When they entered, Mrs. Blythe was sitting behind her desk, and she motioned to the two chairs in front of her. "Please take a seat." She smiled a warm, natural smile, and Sarah-Jane took an immediate liking to her. "Can I get you two anything?" she offered, looking to her secretary.

"Oh yes," the secretary said, looking flustered as she rushed over to the nearby mini fridge and rummaged through it. "We have still water, sparkling water, Earl Grey tea, Yorkshire tea, coffee, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, orange juice, apple juice, pop-"

"No, thank you." Sarah-Jane declined, afraid the list would go on for ever.

Mrs. Blythe turned to Luke. "How about you?" she asked.

"Pop?" the secretary suggested, innocently taking out a bottle of orange pop. Luke looked alarmed and nearly made to jump out of his chair, then gave Sarah-Jane a fleeting, worried look. She gave him a brief smile of reassurance before quickly saying to Mrs Blythe,

"Just some water, I don't let him have too much pop." She was relieved as Mrs. Blythe nodded and her secretary handed Luke a bottle of still water and a plastic cup.

"Thank you," he said politely, then proceeded to ignore the drink and went back to staring at the ground.

Sarah Jane passed the sheath of papers over to Mrs. Blythe she looked through them carefully. "Excellent grades," she said, sounding impressed. She flipped over page. "Truly excellent…I think everything is in order here." She sat back and smiled at them both, before addressing Luke, who looked up from the floor, startled. "Is there anything you'd like to ask me, Luke?" Sarah-Jane, who had begun to finally feel at ease, bit back a groan. Unsuspecting Ms Blythe had just given Luke an open invitation-to him anyway-to ask whatever question popped into his head.

Luke spotted the ornately framed picture of her family on her desk, noting the lack of a husband figure in the photograph. "Are you married?" he asked, purely out of curiosity.

"I meant about the school." Mrs. Blythe said hastily.

"You didn't say that. You said if I had anything I'd like to ask you and I did. You should say what you mean. That's what Sarah Jane says," Luke stated. He wasn't being rude, he didn't know how to be rude even if he wanted to be. He was just pointing out a fact.

"Luke, you can't just ask personal questions like that." Sarah Jane sighed wearily. She was going to have to sit him down when they got home and explain him to the rules of school…and being a member of the human race in general. It was only recently, when bombarded with questions that were surprisingly difficult to answer by Luke, that she realised how complex society really was. Teaching it was easier said than done.

God help her when the inevitable questions about slang started coming.

Luke looked pained; he had made another social mistake. The lady had asked if he had any questions and he did, he didn't know that he was only supposed to ask about the school. She hadn't specifically said so, she had made an assumption that he would understand. From what he had seen, the whole world seemed to be built on assumptions that he would understand things that didn't really make much sense at all or were lacking in the necessary information.

Luckily, they got through the rest of the interview without any more problems, mostly due to the fact that Luke refused to say a single word from that moment on or even make eye contact. Which, although poor Luke didn't realise it, was a social mistake in itself, as it was rude. At the end of the interview, Mrs. Blythe stretched her hand across the desk and shook Sarah Jane's hand.

"Well, I'll be looking forward to seeing Luke next week along with our other few new students. We have a uniform which you could purchase at these shops or through our website." She handed Sarah-Jane a slip of paper and smiled. "Any further questions, just give me a ring. Only preferably about the school not my home life." She gave Luke a jokey wink, but instead of taking it as a joke he went a sickly white colour and looked away in shame. Feeling desperately sorry for him Sarah-Jane put a hand around his shoulder and half steered him from the office, calling to Ms Blythe over her shoulder as she went.

"Yes, will do, thank you! Bye bye!" she said hurriedly, nearly shoving Luke through the door and rushing out behind him, closing the door with sharp snap. In the silence that followed, both Ms Blythe and the secretary blinked at the space they had left, stunned.

"Strange lot, weren't they?" the secretary commented finally. Ms Blythe gave her a disapproving look.

"It would be unprofessional to comment, Polly," she said pointedly. Polly shrugged and pulled two cartons out of the extensively stocked mini fridge and held them up.

"Chocolate milk?"

* * *

"I made another social mistake, didn't I?" Luke said lowly as they walked across the car park. Sarah-Jane rubbed his arm, reminded once again that he only had little life experience despite being physically a teenager.

"It wasn't your fault," she said comfortingly. He didn't reply, and after they had buckled themselves into the car she said as she drove, "About what you said-you can't ask people personal things like that, especially if you don't know them."

As they approached the traffic lights, Luke looked at her in the rear view mirror. "But why not? I was just interested," he said. "Was that wrong?"

Sarah Jane closed her eyes briefly (the light was red). Luke had insatiable curiosity about everything and everyone. Mostly she was happy to answer when he asked questions, but sometimes she wished the Bane had given him more knowledge that wasn't purely academic, although she had to admit it certainly made life more interesting.

"Not exactly, no. Those sorts of questions can make people uncomfortable, and in general it can be rude to ask too many questions," Sarah Jane replied carefully. They passed through the traffic lights while Luke considered what she had said, then slowed to snail speed and stopped as they hit a traffic jam. Sarah-Jane was worrying about getting to the shops in enough time to buy all they needed when Luke piped up again.

"How many questions are too many?"

"It depends on the situation, I suppose," Sarah-Jane replied, looking at the long stretch of immobile cars ahead in dismay.

"Which situations are OK to ask a lot in?"

"Oh, I don't know…school lessons."

"How many then?"

"It depends how many you have, and they need to be relevant."

"What if I have a lot?"

"Ask a few."

"How many is a few?"

"Roughly about three."

"When is it not OK to ask too many?"

"Just…just stop when the person you're talking to starts to seem uncomfortable."

"How will I know if they're uncomfortable?"

"Luke?"

"Yes?"

"You're asking too many now."

"I'm sorry."

"It's OK."

* * *

By the time they had finished buying all Luke needed for school plus necessary food items they were heavily laden with shopping bags, the sky darkening. Shopping with Luke was exhausting, as every little thing brought on about a million questions-she had been held up for nearly fifteen minutes at one point while Luke went on about the peculiar shape and size of hot water bottles (it was his first encounter with one). And shopping for food took hours, as he insisted on reading the ingredients of everything and informing her exactly what this and that chemical did or what really went into certain falsely marketed foods…

There were many things she couldn't bring herself to eat anymore.

Despite her hours of shopping, Sarah-Jane was too exhausted to even think about attempting dinner.

"How about we go out to dinner?" she asked as they piled the rustling shopping bags into the boot. Luke seemed to perk up, and Sarah-Jane hid a grin. She didn't need to be an expert to know how her son's mind worked.

McDonald's was the closest food place. Normally Sarah-Jane didn't care for places like that, but both she and Luke were tired, and a drive-thru meal to take home was the easiest option.

Back at the house, Sarah-Jane was putting their meals out on the living room table-Luke had dashed off to Maria's the moment he stepped foot onto Bannerman Road, telling her he needed to talk to her about 'things'. Sarah-Jane felt a little irritated at the fact that he seemed to prefer talking to Maria about his feelings rather than her…was she really that unapproachable?

She didn't know what Maria had said, but when Luke returned a few minutes later he looked more cheerful than he had all day. As they sat eating, Sarah-Jane found herself looking over at him a lot. Next week he started school, and while he was certainly ready academically, she wasn't sure that he was ready emotionally. Part of her wanted to keep him home with her, but she knew he needed as ordinary a life as she could give him. So much was already stacked against him, at least being at school would give him a sense of normalcy. Still, she felt guilty. After making the decision to look after Luke as a son she had felt as though she had been thrown at the deep end, but now she felt as though she was hurling him headfirst over the edge of a waterfall while crossing her fingers and hoping everything would be OK.

It was the right thing to do. She was sure it was.

…Was it?


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I own no one Grace Holloway is from the "Doctor Who" movie with the Doctor ,she's American.**

It was a strangely peaceful Sunday morning, and Sarah-Jane was upstairs making the most of the quiet to work on an article. She was just getting into the flow of writing, her fingers tapping away on the keyboard, when the sound of the doorbell rang out, slicing through the peace.

She knew Luke was downstairs-she hoped he would have the foresight to ask who it was before answering the door, as he was still at the stage where he opened the door to anyone-or worse, _anything_, without a thought. Sarah-Jane had been drumming it into him that you always ask who it is at the door, and never just let strangers into the house.

She was thinking of going downstairs herself, when an email popped up. She sighed and opened it; Luke wasn't that silly, and she was sure that if it was an alien she would know sooner rather than later. It was probably just Maria.

However, when the doorbell rang yet again a few minutes later, Sarah-Jane frowned and got up, deciding she had better go downstairs and check. When she got downstairs she peered into the living room, where Luke was sitting watching TV and reading at the same time, looking calm as the bell rang again and again.

"Luke?" she asked, poking her head into the living room, and he looked up.

"What?"

"Did you see who was at the door?"

"It was a stranger, so I didn't let them in," he replied, going back to his book.

"Did you ask who they were and what they wanted?" she asked, and he frowned in confusion.

"You just said not to let strangers in the house. Is it OK to talk to them then?"

"Only if they aren't dangerous."

"But how will I know if they're dangerous if I haven't spoken to them?"

The doorbell rang again.

"We'll talk about this later," Sarah-Jane said, then-upon seeing the ashamed look on Luke's face-added, "It's no problem, it's probably just a very persistent salesperson."

She opened the front door to reveal a now impatient looking woman in her mid-forties, but with striking features. Her face lit up as she saw Sarah-Jane and her hand dropped away from the doorbell she was about to press for the millionth time.

"Sarah-Jane Smith!" She beamed, reaching out and pulling the other woman into a hug. Sarah Jane greeted the other woman-Grace- warmly. "I was beginning to worry I'd got the wrong house!"

"I'm so sorry, I completely forget you were coming," Sarah-Jane apologised. "I've had a lot on my plate."

Grace Holloway had first met Sarah-Jane a few months after she had met the Doctor at a medical conference in London. Recently, she had desperately needed someone she could talk to about the Doctor, and when she had read a book by Sarah-Jane Smith that seemed fiction, but was probably more fact than it appeared, she knew she had found that person. She managed to track her down, call her up and invite her for coffee. Their friendship had blossomed-the two just seemed to get along, chatting about the Doctor and aliens in a Starbucks, laughing at the bemused faces of people who caught snatches of their conversations. Grace, while she was in London on business, was to stay briefly at Sarah-Jane's. But in all the time Grace had known her, she had never seen her with or heard mentioned a boyfriend or husband, let alone children. So when the door was first answered by a nervous looking boy around thirteen who then slammed it shut in her face a few seconds later, she wondered if she had got the wrong house. But she didn't give up-that wasn't Grace. So she simply rang the doorbell continuously until someone answered that she could talk to, maybe ask if they knew where Sarah-Jane really lived.

Now Grace picked up her suitcase from the front step, waved to the cab behind her and followed Sarah-Jane into the house. She noticed the boy she had first seen sitting on the stairs, staring at her with open curiosity. Although she felt a tad awkward, she smiled at him, and he gave her a small smile in return.

Grace turned to Sarah-Jane, eyebrows raised questioningly-she never thought Sarah Jane was the mothering type. Not that she thought Sarah Jane would make a terrible mother, but because her life was so busy and unordinary. Grace had never seen her as the settling down type, but to have taken care of a child for thirteen years…well, it was unbelievable.

"I didn't expect you to have children, Sarah-Jane," Grace was unable to keep from saying. "Where's his father?" She immediately regretting asking that question as both mother and son looked instantly awkward.

Sarah Jane turned to the boy quickly. "Luke, why don't you go up to your room for a bit?" She wanted to talk to Grace, but knew that Luke would most likely bombard the poor woman with a million questions.

Luke looked up at her. "Am I in trouble?" he asked worriedly. Sarah Jane walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, then gently nudged him up the stairs.

"You're not in trouble, I just need to talk to Grace alone for a bit. You could go up to the attic if you want."

Grace watched up as he headed up the stairs, looking back over his shoulder once or twice. Sarah-Jane led the way into the kitchen.

"Tea?" she asked as Grace sat down at the table.

"Yes, please," Grace said politely. After a moment, she cleared her throat. "So…if you don't mind me asking, where is Luke's father? Or are you two divorced? You never told me you married." Grace knew it would be a touchy subject whatever the answer was, but a part of her felt sad. Sarah-Jane had never told her about a family, whereas Grace told her all of her secrets. Did Sarah-Jane just see her as another person to hide from?

Sarah Jane filled the kettle and got down two patterned china cups. "Luke isn't mine. Not really. He's adopted and he's… well, he's different. He's not like other children."

Grace looked at her, eyebrows raised. She wasn't sure she understood. Sarah-Jane sat down across from her, placing the two teacups in front of them. She didn't know where to start-she knew Grace deserved to hear the truth, not the lie she told Luke's school or anyone else. She took a sip of her still piping hot tea, then took a deep breath.

"Grace, do you remember that drink, Bubbleshock?" she asked, deciding to start at the beginning.

"Yes! I was addicted to that stuff, terrible, I know. Why?"

"It's unbelievable, but it was created by an alien race. Called the Bane," Sarah-Jane said calmly, and Grace froze mid-sip of her tea, then lowered the cup slowly. That was…unexpected. Sarah-Jane carried on.

"The drink was massively popular, as you'll remember, but not as popular as they wanted. Two percent wouldn't drink it, finding it vile. To solve the problem they created the Archetype, a human that was grown and absorbed the brain patterns of every visitor to the Bubble Shock factory. The built a person-a boy-to help them." Grace stared at Sarah-Jane, the pieces beginning to come together. Sarah-Jane paused.

"And?" Grace prompted gently. Sarah-Jane gave her a small smile. When Luke had brought back a new friend from school-Clyde-she had told the very same story to him. It took nearly an hour, she was interrupted with so many 'no way!'s, and inappropriate 'awesome!'s thrown in here and there. Grace was a much better listener, that was for sure.

"Something went wrong-it's a long story-and he woke up too early. I found him and another girl hiding in…a toilet."

"Ah." Grace nodded. "When in doubt, hide in the toilets."

"We…well, he defeated the Bane, but he had nowhere to go," Sarah-Jane continued. "So I adopted him. I named him. That boy upstairs might look like a teenager, but he's only a few weeks old. He has the mind of a genius, the innocence of a lamb and the social knowledge of a mayfly. He wasn't being rude when left you at the doorstep, I told him not to open doors to strangers, it was my fault. The thing about Luke is he tends to take things literally. He doesn't apply things to circumstance," Sarah Jane explained

Grace understood. She had noticed something off about him from the start-nothing sinister-but just something different. This explained everything.

"So how's life for him?" she asked. "Does get along with other kids…?"

"He has two great friends, Clyde and Maria. They know about him-in fact, Maria was the one who found him and hid with him. Clyde pretty much muscled his way in," Sarah-Jane laughed, then grew troubled. "None of the other students or teachers at his school know about him. He struggles with fitting in because he's so smart at things like maths and science, but has a hard time with slang and social skills-he doesn't know the things most children his age know."

Sarah Jane knew that even though Clyde and Maria tried hard to help Luke fit in, he still felt different. Since he had started school two weeks ago, Luke had come home with notes from different teachers asking her to come in to talk to them. They all said the same thing, that Luke's behaviour wasn't entirely normal and maybe he should be evaluated. Sarah-Jane would probably be able to pass it off as because of his fake past, but the truth was he did need help from people to fit in and be happy. But as far as Sarah-Jane knew there was no one who dealt with genetically engineered kids.

"He'll be fine," Grace said, noticing how concerned Sarah-Jane had suddenly become. "He'll get used to things eventually, you'll see. Besides, he has friends to help him, and you. Could be worse."

"I suppose it could," Sarah-Jane admitted, smiled, and drank more tea.

* * *

That night, Grace was woken up by a blood curdling scream of terror. She bolted upright, disorientated and frightened. Her head pounded from lack of sleep due to a still lingering case of jetlag, and wasn't used to being in a different time zone. But no matter how exhausted she was she was a doctor first and foremost-maybe Sarah Jane or Luke was injured somehow. She stumbled out of bed, pulled on her robe, snatched up her medical bag and hurried down the hall. She stopped at Luke's door; it was open partway and she looked inside. Sarah-Jane was sitting on the bed and had Luke in her arms, rubbing his back in soothing motions while he clung to her.

Sarah-Jane knew that every night around two Luke woke up screaming. He didn't dream, but had night terrors. There was no nightmare monster to run from, just pure, undiluted terror that never failed to wake him late at night, along with Sarah-Jane. He never seemed to remember having them the next morning and they never lasted long, maybe ten minutes or less. It took her about five minutes to get him calmed down and back to sleep again, and even then she didn't just leave him. She waited until she was sure he was asleep and wouldn't wake up again before going back to her bed. When most mothers started out they had sleepless nights, but Sarah-Jane highly doubted that any of them had to see their child scream and shake, convinced they were in some kind of hell.

She held Luke until he stopped trembling, then eased him back down gently.

"Is there anything I can do?" Grace asked softly, alerting Sarah-Jane to her presence. Sarah-Jane looked over to her.

"It's okay. But thank you." She smoothed Luke's hair back.

Grace noticed a bear lying on the floor amongst other, out of place looking things like half-completed circuits and complicated books. She handed it to Sarah Jane and she placed it in his arms, tucking the covers around him. A silent few minutes later, she stood up and snapped the light off. Grace stepped back to let Sarah Jane pass, and she followed her as she went downstairs rather than back to her own room.

"Will he wake up again?" Grace asked.

"Not tonight. He only has them once, and tomorrow morning he won't even remember," Sarah Jane said, looking sad. "But I will."

Sarah Jane was right-the next morning it was like last night hadn't happened. Luke bombarded Grace with question after question as usual, and the only signs that he hadn't gotten a very good night's sleep were the dark circles under his eyes. Other than that he seemed okay.

When it was time for him to leave for school Sarah-Jane walked him to the front door, watching as he headed off with Maria, chatting to her eagerly. Sarah-Jane knew that tonight she was going to be woken up again. But she didn't mind-he needed her. It was all part of being a parent.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N : If you live in America ,you know the end of Thanksgiving means the beginning of the Christmas rush ,not sure when the Christmas rush starts for people in the UK.**

Luke came home from school slightly confused; all day Clyde and Maria had been talking rapidly about some holiday called Christmas, and he just didn't understand it. Clyde had been scandalised at his lack of Christmas spirit and proceeded to launch into an enraged rant mainly about the appreciation of presents, money, time off, food, and more presents.

Then Maria had hit him with her history book, and told Luke a completely different story about a baby and a star that started it, and then about how Christmas was about getting together as a family and bringing peace, love and joy.

THEN Clyde had mimed being sick in his pencil case, and told him that no one really cared about that stuff. Maria hit him again, and told Luke to ignore him.

He was very confused.

He wondered if Sarah Jane could shed some light on Christmas. When he got into the warm house he dropped his bag onto the floor and kicked off his shoes, rushing up the stairs to innocently attack Sarah-Jane with still more questions.

Sarah-Jane heard Luke charging up the stairs and sensed questions approaching. She turned away from the computer when he entered, and gave him a smile.

"How was school?" she asked in a typically parent-like way.

"What's Christmas?" Luke said instead of answering. Sarah-Jane sighed. From the moment tinsel and sparkling trees adorned in twinkly lights had started appearing in windows, she had known it was coming. It was his first experience with Christmas, and she had to make sure he got the right idea of it. He both too young and too old to be told the whole Father Christmas story (and she didn't particularly want to spend hours listening to him go on about the impossibility of flying reindeer). So she would have to take the approach from another angle.

This was also going to be her first Christmas since Aunt Lavinia had died. But she was determined not to let that get her down-her son's Christmas was going to be memorable.

"How about we go to the bookshop as soon as I'm finished with this article?" Sarah-Jane suggested to him, deciding it would probably be best to explain it in a way he understood-books. He nodded, and glanced to the door. Sarah-Jane had to hide a grin at his predictable next words.

"Can I go to Maria's?"

"Only for a bit. Be back before five." Sarah-Jane watched him practically run from the attic with a smile, then turned back and continued writing her article.

* * *

One hour later they were in an overcrowded little bookshop, dodging elbows and squeezing past shelves to look for some books of Christmas.

"Excuse me!" Sarah-Jane snapped as a woman shoved her into a display of childrens colouring books. The woman didn't glance back, nattering on to her partner about which Harry Potter book her daughter had asked for. "Fine!" Sarah-Jane sniffed, and turned. "Luke, do you-_Luke_!" She turned in a circle, searching for her son who seemed to have disappeared into the crowd. "Great!"

Finding Luke was not an easy task because he really could be anywhere-if something grabbed his interest, he was gone. He might not even be inside the same shop anymore, but she still searched every aisle, her anxiety growing to the point that it was her who started shoving people out of her way. She wondered if it was too early to panic, but Luke was different-who knew what sort of trouble he could get himself into?

She searched again, rushing around in a fluster, and eventually found him in the science section, flicking through the last few pages of an enormous, difficult-looking book. A frowning shop assistant came up to him, and Sarah-Jane made tremendous gestures for Luke to put the book down, which he didn't seem to understand.

"Excuse me, are you going to buy that?" the assistant asked him. Luke gave him a smile and put the book back on the shelf.

"No, it's OK, I finished it. It was quite good. By the way, there's a mistake on page five hundred and twenty six." Then Luke practically bounced over to Sarah-Jane, leaving the bemused shop assistant to turn to the page Luke had mentioned.

"But," he said, confused as he stared at the page. "This is Einstein's theory of…what…" He shook his head, closing the book and putting it back, confident now that he was being messed with. "Strange boy..."

Sarah-Jane, meanwhile, had hurried to the counter, dragging Luke away from various books. She purchased several books, consisting of a mixture of childrens and general books on Christmas to cover every base.

As they left the bookshop Sarah-Jane spotted a small family sitting on some tattered old blankets by a wall. The woman looked ragged, her blond hair dirty, greasy and slightly greying despite looking in her twenties. Three children sat beside her, two girls and one boy, all weary looking and none older than five. Sarah-Jane pulled out her purse and wordlessly handed the woman all the money she had left.

"Thank you," one of the young girls said gratefully. The mother and Sarah-Jane's eyes met, and the woman nodded her thanks with a smile. Putting her arm around Luke, Sarah-Jane turned away and began walking down the street.

"Why did you give her money?" Luke asked before they were out of earshot as Sarah Jane snapped shut her purse and put it in her bag.

"They needed it."

"But why?" Luke pressed, not understanding in his naivety.

"Because she probably has no home, no job and her children are probably hungry." Sarah Jane explained.

"But why doesn't she have a job or a home?" Luke asked, looking upset. Sarah Jane sighed, as she did a lot recently, knowing that this wouldn't be an easy conversation to have, Luke not being worldly wise enough to fully understand why those people had to live like that. In all honesty, even she sometimes wondered.

"Because sometimes people fall on hard times," was what she chose to say. She looked over at him-he seemed to be thinking it over carefully, and Sarah Jane knew he was not finished with his questions and that they would come later. The answers she would give, she didn't know.

He went over to Maria's as soon as they got home, and Sarah Jane took the books inside, placing them on the table in the front room with simply no room on her packed bookshelves. Upon going into the attic and checking her laptop she noticed she had two messages, one from her editor asking if she could do a product review for some new toy that was coming out, the other from Luke's English teacher saying they needed to meet as soon as possible. Sarah-Jane pushed her hair back from her forehead, stress gripping her yet again. She really hated the meetings between herself and Luke's teachers. They all said the same thing however much some sugar coated it-he was 'uncomfortable' around some, 'were there any problems at home to lead to his behaviour…?', 'perhaps he would be happier if he spoke to a counsellor'…the truth was, they had no idea, and Sarah-Jane wished they would just keep their noses out. If there was one thing she hated, it was people meddling in her business.

She called her editor back and told her to have the toy sent around, then called the school to set up the unavoidable meeting with Luke's teacher. It was set up for tomorrow after school…she didn't know if she should tell Luke or not. Despite her plans to make his life normal, it certainly wasn't going very well so far.

* * *

Today had not been a very good day for Luke. Clyde was off sick-at least that was what Luke understood, Maria had said something about how he was probably 'bunking off', whatever that meant-and without Clyde to guide him or tell him when to shut up, the social mistakes came. That particular day Maria was in few of his classes, so no one was there to stop him correcting his maths teacher.

Three times.

The teacher, who was already in a stormy mood after marking the year's test papers, took his corrections as rude, thus Luke got his first ever detention.

He knew Clyde was in detention a lot, and even seemed proud of it when he was, but on the other hand Maria, when threatened with detention for talking or some other mild form of rule breaking, seemed to be worried about it.

So it was with conflicting emotions that he walked into the detention room, and as he entered the two boys and one girl already seated inside stared at him, eyebrows raised. It was a well known fact at Park Vale that Luke Smith never got in any sort of trouble and was something of a teacher's pet and goody goody. Him being in detention was odd to say the least, and even the teacher looked surprised. However, he soon recovered and pointed at empty desk.

"No talking."

* * *

While Luke was in detention, Sarah-Jane was in a meeting with his teacher, maintaining a collected expression but slightly defensive stance. Mrs Dennyson cleared her throat.

"Luke is not normal, Miss Smith. He's behind developmentally," she said. Sarah-Jane saw genuine concern in the teacher's eyes. Mrs Dennyson was the type of teacher who cared for and noticed things about her students, and Luke-while amazingly smart academically-seemed strange. He didn't know what most kids his age knew from an early age, such as how to interact, and she wondered if there was a reason for it. The puzzling thing was that in terms of intelligence he was exceptional. Mrs Dennyson was not an expert, and while random names of things like autism ran around in her head, she just didn't know what the problem was. Maybe something from his past was affecting him-she knew he was adopted.

"Do you have any idea of why this is?" she asked Sarah-Jane, who looked a little uncomfortable, understandably.

"Luke is a very …unique child, he grew up in a children's home," she lied.

"It may be that he has experienced a different past that was difficult to cope with. But it might be something else, a temporary or long-term issue I can't say. To be in the safe side, this is the name of a child psychologist the school is willing to hire to evaluate Luke here at school." Mrs Dennyson handed Sarah-Jane a slip of paper, which she took with a strained smile. "And he'll need to see him every Tuesday during lunch. When you tell Luke make sure to be clear that he's done nothing wrong, I just felt it part of my duty as a teacher to help," Mrs Dennyson said.

Sarah-Jane looked at the slip of paper, wondering if she should subject Luke to being evaluated. She already knew why he was having trouble, did she need to put him through that? She had wanted Luke to have a normal life, but if teachers were saying he wasn't normal how good of a job was she doing anyway?

But this wasn't about her, it was about him, and the school. If she got this psychologist out of the way, maybe the school would leave well enough alone.

"OK," she said, standing and shaking her hand. "Thank you." Mrs Dennyson smiled warmly.

"Where was Luke tonight, by the way?"

"He's…he's in detention."

"Ah. I see."

Sarah-Jane left the classroom, the paper clutched tightly in her hand, with a gnawing sense of failure in the pit of her stomach.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I own the psychologist an alien that sucks out life essence of Luke bit by bit.**

Luke stood hesitantly in front of the door labelled 'Room 22', his hand hovering undecidedly over the doorknob.

When Sarah-Jane had told him over dinner last night that his teachers were insisting on him seeing a counsellor, he wasn't sure how to feel about it. Sarah-Jane had firmly told him that he'd done nothing wrong, and didn't really need to go-it was going to sort things in the long run. When he anxiously asked Maria's opinion, she had similar views to Sarah-Jane, and thought it best to just 'get it over with'.

Clyde was furious.

"After ALL I've told you and EVERYTHING I've done, they still think you're some kind of loony!" he had fumed on the way to school.

"_Still_?" Luke had queried as Maria snapped, "He's not a loony, Clyde!"

"To be fair mate, you were a bit weird. But my point is, I feel like a failure! All of my efforts, wasted…"

Clyde raged for most of the morning, exasperated more than usual whenever Luke did something strange. But, as Maria had whispered to Luke, underneath it all Clyde was probably genuinely guilty.

"How do you know?" Luke whispered. She gave him a look.

"I just do, I'm a girl. We pick up on stuff."

True to her words, Clyde had given him a reassuring pat on the shoulder as he had left for his appointment at lunch, then proceeded to mope at a lunch table with Maria, whining about the unfairness of it all.

Now, Luke stood alone by the door. _Just get it over with, _he said to himself, repeating what Maria had said. So, taking a deep breath and feeling extremely nervous, he turned the door handle and stepped inside the room.

As he walked in, a sweet smelling wave of perfume or air-freshener washed over him, along with an instant, pleasant warmth that he deducted must have come from some kind of extra heater. As a whole, room 22 was the most non-threatening, cosy looking room imaginable with a comfortable looking sofa, armchair and a shining mahogany desk, behind which a kind young woman sat. She smiled warmly at Luke as he entered, and he wondered why he had ever felt so nervous.

"Hello, Luke," she said. Her voice was smooth but friendly, and Luke felt a feeling of trust. "Won't you have a seat?" She indicated the sofa and he sat down gratefully, suddenly exhausted on his feet, thinking it was most likely from the stress of the day.

"I'm Dr. Westers," she said, still in the same voice. "How about some water?" she asked suddenly, handing him a glass. To be polite, Luke took a sip, then looked down at it, frowning slightly. It had an oddly sweet taste. Dr. Westers noticed and smiled.

"It's not plain water, it's flavoured. Nice, isn't it? Drink it all up, then we can get started," she said. Obediently, he finished the glass and passed it back to her. Dr. Westers looked pleased as she took the glass, then folded her hands on the desk.

"Your teachers are very worried about you," Dr. Westers said, using a very soothing voice, smooth and silky like melting butter. Luke wanted to listen, but he was finding it unusually difficult. He was drowsy…he must not have got enough sleep last night.

"Why're they worried about me?" he asked , fighting back a yawn and frowning as he rubbed his eyes, his muscles increasingly slow to react. Dr. Westers narrowed her eyes a little. Normally the child's reaction to the drink never took so long…maybe she should give him more.

"Oh, just silly things, nothing important, " Dr. Westers lightly, waving a hand. She hadn't read the file and she didn't care-it was _a_ child. That was all that mattered .

If it wasn't important , Luke didn't know why he needed to see a psychologist. He was about to ask if he could go, but found suddenly that he couldn't form the words. His eyes felt heavy, and he was so tired…

Dr. Westers was still talking, but he wasn't listening. His head lolled and soon he was slumped on the couch, closing his eyes finally and passing into unconsciousness.

Dr. Westers smiled triumphantly, and walked over to the door. She locking it quickly, still looking pleased, all traces of her sweet, harmless attitude gone to be replaced with something else-malice, dark…_hunger._

She crossed the room and knelt down next to the couch, making absolutely sure he was actually asleep. He didn't stir.

Dr. Westers stood up, leaning over his sleeping form. She took a deep breath and opened his mouth, standing back with his jaw clenched tightly in her hands. She took a deep breath the air in the room seemed to shift almost, the now faintly gold tinted air moving impossibly, rippling like water then rushing towards the woman as she seemed to draw in the air. Luke gave a lurch, and breathed out still more of the pale gold streams into the air continuously.

Mrs. Westers smiled and tilted her head back as the light surrounded her-she was an alien, one that lived purely on the life essence of others, hers specifically that of children. This boy was a veritable smorgasbord, and she had to pull herself away reluctantly; too much wasn't good for her species. She stepped back and sat back behind her desk, waiting patiently for him to wake. She would tell him how he had drifted off, and watch him walk off, puzzled, out of the door…

Until the next time.

* * *

Maria twisted her fork around and around in the bowl of spaghetti, staring anxiously into space as she thought of Luke-was he OK? How was the psychologist? What were they talking about? She knew Sarah-Jane must have had a good reason to send him to one, but found herself doubting the decision all the same.

Clyde was shovelling down his food, but, being seated facing the cafeteria door, saw Luke come in before Maria. He nearly spat out his pasta in his urgency to tell and started to choke, but luckily Maria figured it out for herself and whipped around to see Luke walk in while Clyde was in the process of choking to death on a meatball, which would not be a very cool way to die.

Luke walked slowly and pale faced over to their table and dropped into a chair. Maria's expression flickered with worry, and Clyde stopped choking on the meatball, his watery eyes questioning.

"Are you all right?" Maria asked Luke gently.

"I feel tired," Luke murmured.

"You were fine this morning," Maria observed, immediately on red alert. "Maybe you should go see the nurse."

"We have lessons," protested Luke, yawning as he buried his head in his arms. Clyde shook his head sighed-if it were him, or anyone else for that matter, he wouldn't mind missing lessons. But Luke actually liked school, despite Clyde's many complaints, so of course he would hate missing lessons. Normally Clyde would have groaned and told Luke off for being so pathetic, but today something was seriously up. There was something wrong with Luke, and Maria was right-it was inevitable he see the nurse, because Luke didn't get sick, and he had more stamina than most kids his age. It was weird.

"IgreewivMria," Clyde said through a fresh mouthful of spaghetti. Luke frowned.

"What?"

"I agree with Maria," Clyde said as he swallowed, and brandished the fork at him. "You should go."

"Um…Clyde-"

"No, I don't want to hear about how devastated you'll be about missing chemistry-"

"No, it's not that, it's just…you have tomato sauce on your face."

* * *

Sarah-Jane noticed Luke seemed exhausted when he got home. She was a little worried initially, but thought it was probably just because he'd had a hard day at school, coupled with another bad night's sleep-she made him take a nap before he started on his homework, safe in the knowledge that it would get finished. She desperately wanted to ask him how his session had gone, but decided to wait until they were eating dinner, hoping at least he would be well rested.

The doorbell rang and Sarah Jane hurried to answer it, not wanting Luke to wake up- he needed the rest.

She opened the door, and standing on the other side was Maria, her coat pulled tightly around her against the cold.

"Hi, Sarah-Jane , is Luke busy?" Maria asked. "I thought we could do our homework together."

Sarah-Jane stepped back to let Maria into the warmth. "Luke's taking a nap, he seemed tired when he came home."

"He was fine earlier. Well, at least until he saw that counsellor before lunch, then he seemed really tired," Maria recalled. "It really took it out of him."

Sarah-Jane thought about it. It did seem odd, but it was probably nothing serious. Luke was still new-new to life, new to school, new to everything. The pressure was bound to take its toll. Things would get better, there was no need to become overly anxious; Sarah-Jane wasn't nor did she ever want to be one of those paranoid mothers.

She should have been more wary.

* * *

Classes had barely begun when the door to Mr. Sanders' maths class opened and a mousy looking student handed him a not. The class watched with interest, pleased at the disruption from Trigonometry, as he opened it. He read it quickly, and folded it back up.

"It seems that you'll be missing this morning's lessons, Luke," he said. Everyone else groaned enviously, but Luke just looked confused.

"Why?"

To see Dr. Westers." Mr. Sanders explained.

"It's not Tuesday," Luke stated. He was only supposed to see Dr. Westers on Tuesday-today was Wednesday, so he wasn't supposed to see her until next week.

"It doesn't matter, she says for you to go today," Mr. Sanders said, nodding at the door. "Don't keep her waiting."

Luke gathered up his books, feeling very confused, then headed through the silent, empty corridors to Room 22. He pushed open the door, with an odd feeling of being about to confront something . Dr. Westers was sitting behind the desk, a glass of water in front of her. She smiled and pushed it towards Luke wordlessly.

"I'm not thirsty," Luke said.

"It's good for you ,it's got special vitamins in it," Dr. Westers said, and something in her tone made Luke reach out and take the glass. He took a cautious sip-today it tasted like peppermint , sweet but strong.

Dr. Westers smiled at him. It was a cold sinister smile that she made no attempt to disguise, but she didn't need to. Luke was starting to feel drowsy, and he felt a small surge of panic. That had happened last time, it wasn't a coincidence…it couldn't be…

He wanted to run or to fight it, but even his ability to think seemed to be flagging, and he could make no attempt to protest as Dr. Westers led him to the sofa.

The dose was higher this time, and in two minutes he was completely out. Because not even genetically grown children are immune to alien drugs.

She sucked out and stole more than she had yesterday, and when he woke up he was disoriented and confused. Dr. Westers sent him on his way, practically pushing him out of the door; she didn't care if he had no idea where he was, she got what she needed. She planned to do this every day for a very long time. She didn't know what was so different or so special about this particular child, but she was going to take advantage of her good fortune.

* * *

When Luke had left Dr. Westers' the day before he just felt tired. Today he felt more than tired; his head was pounding painfully and he felt as though he wanted to throw up, a horrible feeling that he wasn't accustomed to. His mind and memory was in a state of disarray, and he had no idea where his next class was or even what his next class was, parts of his memory muddled or vanished. If Maria or Clyde were there they'd tell him to see the nurse, but he didn't want to see the nurse-she might ask him awkward questions or worse, find out he wasn't normal. He wanted the splitting headache and trembling to stop.

The bell rang , both startling him and making his headache flare up, and he fell against a wall, gritting his teeth. Doors opened and students streamed out, and soon the halls were filled with a cacophony of noise that made Luke cringe. Maria and Clyde were coming down the hall in opposite directions and both reached Luke at the same time.

Maria gasped when she saw how white Luke was and clutched his arm as he shook violently.

"What's wrong with him?" Clyde asked in shock as Maria led Luke over to an out of the way bench, keeping a fiercely tight hold of his hand and pushing through the tide of pupils. They all sat down, Maria looking worried and a bit terrified, although she tried to look calm and collected.

"I think we should call Sarah Jane," she said. Clyde pulled a face.

"I bet it's that counsellor! Both times he went to he and came back looking like some kind of zombie," Clyde said, glancing at his sickly looking friend.

"You call Sarah-Jane, I'll stay here with Luke," Maria instructed, not even taking her eyes off him to look at Clyde, glancing at him only when he stood to go outside and make the call.

* * *

Sarah-Jane was surprised when Clyde called her to tell her she needed to pick up Luke from school-she wondered why the school didn't call, but Clyde's next words chilled her-"I think it's the counsellor," he said with dark confidence. "It happens every time he comes back from the counsellor. She might be an alien or…or something, I think you should check it out."

Sarah Jane grabbed her keys and sonic lipstick before dashing from the house, once again cursing Park Vale and its association with aliens. She also knew she should have never agreed to have Luke see a psychologist, but she thought it would help him in the long run. She sped towards the school and squealed to a halt in the parking area, leaping out of the car. She approached the school quickly and purposefully, and flipped open her watch-Clyde had been right. There was an alien in there. The trace was faint, but she would find it. However, first she needed to get Luke. Luckily she didn't have long to look-she spotted Maria and Luke on a bench directly inside, Clyde standing close by. Maria had her arm around Luke and seemed to be holding him up. As Sarah-Jane got closer she saw how pale and ill he looked, and sped up to a jog. Maria looked up.

"Sarah Jane," she said in relief and gently nudged Luke. "Your Mum's here"

Luke forced his eyes open and he looked up at Sarah-Jane. There was so much he wanted and needed to say, but he only ended up managing to slurr, "Don't feel good."

"I know, we'll go home and, after Mr. Smith scans you, you could go to bed," Sarah-Jane said, helping Maria get Luke to his feet she led him toward the exit. Maria walked on Luke's other side, maintaining an almost protective stance. Sometimes Sarah-Jane wondered if Maria did a better job of looking after Luke than she did.

But Maria was still a student who had to attend school, and could only walk with them as far as the door. She watched from the entrance, Clyde beside her, as Sarah Jane helped Luke into the car. Maria desperately wished she could go with them, but was stuck going through classes that she wouldn't take in until the end of the day when she was free. All she could do until then was hope.

* * *

The minute they got home, Sarah-Jane led Luke up to the attic.

"Mr. Smith,I need you," she said and, with his usual fanfare, the massive computer slid out of the wall.

"Yes, Sarah-Jane, how may I help?" he asked smoothly.

"I need you to scan Luke ,please and find out what's wrong with him." Sarah-Jane led Luke over to the computer and waited impatiently while Mr. Smith ran the scan.

"Well? What's wrong with him?" she demanded to know after a few seconds.

"I need time to complete my prognosis," Mr. Smith told her. Sarah-Jane sighed and turned to Luke-he still looked tired, but he wasn't as pale as he had been at the school.

"Mr. Smith, I'm going to put Luke to bed. I'll be back shortly," Sarah-Jane said.

"I will have the analysis finished by then," he assured her.

Several minutes later, Sarah-Jane was indeed back in the attic and listening attentively to Mr Smith.

"Luke's life essence is being taken out of him. Slowly. His body is trying to fight back-unfortunately, this is doing little good. The alien feeds on the life essence of children ,and since Luke is basically everyone, the alien is getting a smorgasbord," Mr. Smith said.

"My son is not an all you can eat buffet," Sarah-Jane snapped, then added worriedly, "What will happen to Luke if this continues?"

"He will die. But it will take a long while depending on how much is take each time. Also, since Luke is not a normal child, it is likely to take longer ," Mr. Smith said

Sarah-Jane knew the simplest thing was to have Luke stop seeing the psychologist, and then find out what sort of alien she was dealing with. She decided that Luke should stay home tomorrow and she would do some research on this 'psychologist'. Just before he had drifted off, Luke-seeming determined to get some information of his chest- had told in mumbles that the counsellor was a woman named Dr. Westers. She would find out just who this Dr. Westers _really_ was, and stop her. No aliens messed with her planet, and no alien threatened her son.

**A/N confrontation with alien**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Dr. Westers is a form of Qtesh Surprise cameo**

After some consideration, Sarah-Jane decided that Luke should stay home. She knew she had made the right call, as when he came down for breakfast he looked exhausted.

Last night she had Mr Smith look up Dr Westers, and not surprisingly there was absolutely no record of her, almost as if she sprang up out of nowhere. Sarah-Jane had been immediately suspicious, and wanted nothing more than to go down to that school and confront 'Dr Westers' herself, but thought it would be better to wait until after school so that she could get Luke safely over to Maria's; she didn't really want to leave him alone.

After a meagre breakfast that she could barely stomach, she headed into the front room, where Luke was cocooned on the couch

She headed into the front room ,where Luke was cocooned on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. He was reading a complicated book-Sarah-Jane didn't even understand the title-while an almost patronisingly simple comedy show was his choice of television show to be watching. As she entered, he looked up questioningly.

"Am I going to school today?" he asked.

"Not today, no," she replied.

"Because of yesterday?" Luke wondered.

"Yes." She sat down in the armchair and turned the TV down. "Luke, what happened when you saw Dr. Westers yesterday and Tuesday?"

"I went in and she spoke to me about…no, she gave me water," he said quickly, and looked to an anxious Sarah-Jane. "Both times, and it tasted strange. I was tired, and then…then…"

"Then?" Sarah-Jane prompted nervously, while Luke looked confused.

"I think I've forgotten." He looked vaguely frightened. "But I don't forget things, why can't I remember?" He had a perfect memory, being made that way, and never forgot things he had seen. He occasionally got things he had been told muddled up (like slang that Clyde taught him that made no sense) but would never forget any event, however small. He didn't remember any fear, just being tired.

"The water tasted strange," Sarah-Jane said slowly. "Why would she give you a drink anyway…?" She trailed off. Last night Mr Smith had scanned specifically for an illness or condition that made people tired. But this time she would ask him to search for something else.

Drugs.

"I think Mr. Smith needs to scan you again," she said, and was about to explain gently what to look for when he guessed anyway.

"To look for a drug? From the drink?"

"Yes."

He rose to go upstairs, and Sarah-Jane followed him, unable to see but guessing his worried expression.

"Mr. Smith, I need you," Sarah-Jane requested as they entered, waiting as Mr. Smith slid out of the wall.

"How may I be of assistance, Sarah-Jane?" Mr. Smith asked cooly.

"I need you to scan Luke again please. This time specifically for any kind of poison or drug in his body." She tugged Luke forward and a blue beam shot out and ran down the length of Luke's body.

They waited a tense few minutes until Mr. Smith reached his conclusions.

"Luke is fine-he does have traces of something in him, an unusual substance that works to send its victims into a temporary but deep sleep, but it's very faint and won't do him harm unless he comes into contact with it again," Mr. Smith told them.

"Faint?" Sarah-Jane asked crossly. "Look at him! He's exhausted-"

"It was hard to sleep last night, I was anxious," Luke told her. "Whatever it was she gave me probably mostly left my system in twenty four hours."

"You're probably right," Sarah-Jane said. She was glad she decided to have Luke stay home- until they headed downstairs, where they were greeted by a terrifying sight .

Dr. Westers was in their front room and sitting on the couch, smiling coldly.

"Luke, go upstairs. Now," Sarah-Jane said as calmly as she could, pushing Luke back up the stairs. He was about to go up and had his hand on the banister when Dr. Westers' cold, sinister voice stopped him in his tracks.

"If you move, Luke, I will shoot Mummy right here."

Luke whipped around to see Dr. Westers holding a gun to the head of a stiff, frightened but angry Sarah-Jane. She smiled evilly at his look of horror as he took a step down. "There's a good boy. Come downstairs, now."

Legs shaking, but with no choice but to obey, Luke headed downstairs. In a snap second Dr. Westers reached out and grabbed him, releasing Sarah-Jane roughly as she cried out. She switched the gun from Sarah-Jane to him expertly, grinning as she did so, seemingly enjoying her game with the two of them. "If you meddle, Miss Smith, I will shoot your son before you even finish screaming."

Luke looked at Sarah-Jane, eyes wide with terror, his face so pale and so terrified that there was no way Sarah-Jane was simply going to stand around and let some alien terrify her son. Slowly, as Dr. Westers made some kind of victory speech, she reached into her back pocket, pulling out her sonic lipstick.

"…and he didn't even notice," Dr. Westers laughed, still clutching Luke tightly. "Stupid boy! As stupid as his friends, I saw them hovering around him, not one of them suspecting me! Too clever, you see-"

"Clyde said," Luke spoke up, and Sarah-Jane's face filled with horror as she shook her head at him frantically. But he wanted to wipe the smug smile from Westers' face, feeling a hatred like never before. It was an emotion that burned, and he relished it while wanting to be rid of it. "Clyde knew, he said it was you. He, a human boy, figured it out. You aren't that clever, just arrogant."

As Dr. Westers' jaw tightened and her eyes flashed, Sarah-Jane made her move. She brought up her lipstick, and disabled Dr. Westers' gun in instant, sparks flying from it. She yelped and dropped it in surprise, and Sarah-Jane darted forwards and yanked Luke away and close to her.

But Dr. Westers was not going to be easily defeated-she needed the life essence of this child. No-she craved it, was addicted to it. The idea of not having it wasn't an option. She pulled put a large, nasty looking alien gun that's silver coating glinting in the light as she pointed it at them both, smirking in her triumph.

"More powerful than that stupid human gun. I warned you, Miss Smith, do not meddle again or this time I will shoot. I doubt that sonic device is powerful enough to disable this gun-it's very powerful, so much more powerful than those silly guns you humans use. Pathetic creatures ,humans," Dr. Westers spat in disgust, then the corners of her lips were drawn upwards as she pulled Luke back from a helpless Sarah-Jane."But so rich in emotions. Now back away slowly."

She was agonised, but Sarah-Jane had no choice but to follow Dr. Westers' orders.

"Don't leave me!,Mum! Please!" Luke screamed out in terror, twisting in Dr. Westers' iron grip. "Let go of me!" He continued to struggle, and-rolling her eyes in heartless exasperation-she pulled put and pushed a needle into his arm, causing him to go instantly limp. She looked with a gleefully questioning expression at Sarah-Jane, who was fighting back tears.

"You think you've won. But you haven't ," Sarah-Jane said as icily as she could while her voice trembled with anger and sorrow.

"Oh, but I have, Miss Smith. Luke is mine," she said, dragging him out of the door. Sarah-Jane rushed after them, and could only watch from her driveway as Luke was put into an ominous black car and driven away.

A tear brimmed in her eye, but she wiped it away and ran up to the attic, not about to stand around while her child was in danger. Once in the attic she unlocked a drawer that was never opened, and grabbed a sinister looking gun. The horrible power to so easily inflect death washed over her as she felt it, but she shielded herself against it with the thought of Dr. Westers holding her son. She would never use a gun normally, but when it came to Luke all rules were out of the window.

Perhaps she was a paranoid mother occasionally, but at that moment she couldn't help but be glad she installed a miniscule tracking chip in Luke's watch, aware that in a likely emergency she may need it.

She ran down the stairs two at a time, tore outside without even locking the door behind her and got into her car turning, slamming the door and switching on the GPS tracking device. She drove out and followed the route, restraining herself from speeding ahead and catching up instantly, making sure there were at least four cars between her and them. It would do to let Westers know she was being followed.

* * *

Dr. Westers parked the car in front of an old, dilapidated warehouse. Getting out of the car, she went around and opened the passenger side. Two men hurried out of the warehouse, and she stepped back to allow them to peer into the passenger seat.

"That the kid, he doesn't look like much," said one of them, his face falling.

"Trust me, he's a regular little smorgasbord. He's not like the other children."

"You sure-"

Oh, just get him into the warehouse," Rebecca-for that was her name-snapped.

Shrugging, one of the men reached in and lifted Luke out of the passenger seat. The three of them headed into the warehouse, where several other people were gathered inside together. It almost looked like a Town Hall meeting…except it wasn't. It was closer to a dinner party, but with life-sucking aliens.

"Put the boy down," Rebecca ordered, and they lay Luke down. She stepped forwards, a wide smile of her face as she stretched out her arms as though to embrace them. "See, brothers and sisters-this child is to give us life. Drink deeply from his life essence, and we shall live as his sacrifice breathes life into our family."

Everyone surged forward, excited to be feeding -it had been a long time and this human child wasn't like others. He was different…better.

But not one of them was really thinking of him as a person. No one was paying attention. No one was noticing that Luke was waking up. His eyes snapped open and he went into flight mode-it was the Bubbleshock factory all over again, and with his mind fogged all he knew was a blinding terror and need to run. He jumped up, but where before there was no one to try to stop him this time there were about twenty furious, starved people trying to grab him. Summoning all of his strength he shoved them aside, and found he was stronger than he had thought as he threw one of them to one side. He crashed head-first into a crate and crumpled to the floor, and Luke ran for it.

"Shoot him!" Rebecca screamed. "Even after he is dead the life essence will linger for long enough to feed, shoot him, now!"

At the shrill order the person closest to Luke whipped out a gun, hurriedly aimed and pulled back the tracker. The bullet embedded itself in Luke's leg, and pain erupted as his body screamed internally. But he was close to a door, and managed to slip out of it and into a corridor where he quickly found a broom and a chair to jam it shut with. He slid down the wall, his teeth gritted against the pain. He had no idea where he was or how to get out, and was no in an even more serious situation than before. He glanced down and saw a dark red stain blossoming on the leg of his jeans. Although he knew he shouldn't, he reached down and lightly touched it with a shaking hand. A hiss of pain escaped him and he jerked as white hot agony sliced through the area like a knife and his hand came away bloody. If he lost to much blood they'd get him so easily, and was already feeling light headed and a dizzy. He needed time to think, but couldn't-the feeble barrier of the door wouldn't hold for long, he was surprised they hadn't smashed it down already. His heart ached for mum, for home and Maria and Clyde, but the reality was that he was sat on the floor in a warehouse, blood seeping from a bullet wound with beings intent of taking his life about to get him at any moment.

He hauled himself up and headed right, not even sure why he headed in that direction, just hoping it was…well, right. He ran as best he could, cries of pain occasionally escaping. He hit a dead end, and although it was only the first corridor he had tried it felt like the end, and tears sprang to his eyes. He retraced his steps and tried another corridor, droplets of his blood splashing to the ground as his footsteps became slower and slower as more blood was lost. Fatigue began to suffocate and overwhelm him, and as he stumbled and fell against a wall he simply slid into a seating position with no energy to carry on.

This was it. This was the end.

He was going to die, and he knew it. He pulled his knees up to his chest and, shaking with sobs, began to rock back and forth. He wanted mum, he wanted Maria. But they weren't here, he was alone until he was found and shot.

"Are you Luke Smith?" a suddenly close voice asked. Luke looked up and tried to scramble away, but his leg was throbbing in a fiery pain and protested.

The man above him was watching him anxiously. Luke, even in his dazed state, studied his wild brown hair and pinstriped suit, then the dark skinned woman hovering nervously by his side. He had no idea who these people were, but although mum told him not to talk to strangers, there something about the man that Luke trusted and liked, almost like he knew him, and he found himself nodding.

"Brilliant. I'm the Doctor-your mother asked me to find you," the man said.

"Where is Mum?" Luke asked finally speaking, forcing the words out.

"She's safe in the TARDIS. And don't worry about the aliens, I've taken care of them," the Doctor said, then put his hands in his pockets. "Sad race. Can't live without another one. Sort of good news, I suppose, they can hardly try to wipe out other races, but all the same it would be nice if they didn't need to kill…then again, maybe everyone on Earth should be vegetarian…"

As the Doctor went on, the woman was more focused and looking at Luke, noticing how pale he was. That's when she noticed the right leg of his blue jeans were covered in blood that was quickly spreading.

"Doctor, he's bleeding," the woman said urgently. "We need to get him to the TARDIS."

The Doctor didn't need to be told twice, and he scooped Luke up with ease and they headed toward the TARDIS.

* * *

Sarah-Jane was on pins and needles as she waited in the TARDIS. It was a happy accident she ran into him-the TARDIS had materialised in the middle of her road, nearly causing her to crash into a nearby garden as she swerved in panic. Luckily no one had seen as the road was quite, and apparently, according to the Doctor, the TARDIS had seemed to just suddenly control itself and had landed on its own. Maybe it somehow new Sarah-Jane needed them.

He had a new companion, a woman called Martha Jones who was studying to be a doctor. Or had been. Sarah-Jane told them both what was going on and who Luke was, but neglected to mention everything, such us where she had adopted him from and his involvement with Bane. She wasn't sure why she felt uncertain about revealing that information. Maybe it was Martha's presence.

The Doctor insisted on finding Luke himself, instructing Martha and Sarah-Jane to stay in the TARDIS. Of course, Martha was after him in less than thirty seconds, but told Sarah-Jane she should stay. Sarah-Jane wasn't about to follow her orders, but found herself locked inside.

She jumped as the door to the TARDIS creaked open and Martha entered, giving Sarah-Jane an encouraging smile. The Doctor followed, and Sarah-Jane paled as she saw Luke in his arms.

Martha hurried over, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's not as bad as it looks, Sarah-Jane," she assured the worried mother. Sarah-Jane did not look convinced as she followed Martha to the sickbay. The Doctor turned around, but Sarah-Jane ignored him, for once not having time for him, heading straight to the bed where Luke lay-he looked so small and helpless.

"We need to get him to a hospital," Martha said.

"No! No hospitals ." Sarah-Jane was adamant-she did not want Luke to be poked and prodded by doctors ,they would discover he wasn't normal very quickly, and then what?

Martha and the Doctor looked at her.

"He's hurt, Sarah. He has a bullet in his leg that could cause infections if it isn't taken out."

Sarah-Jane knew she had to tell them. So she did. Everything. The Doctor nodded along seriously and with understanding, having most likely come across something like this before. Martha looked baffled, then intrigued, baffled again, then worried.

"There must be some doctor who wouldn't ask questions on Luke's background," she said.

Sarah-Jane could only think of one person -Harry Sullivan. He had travelled with her and the Doctor in his fourth regeneration and so he knew all too well about aliens, so the idea that Luke was created by aliens wouldn't faze him in the least

But if he dared call her "old girl" even once she'd slap him.

**A/N : Harry Sullivan meets Luke and calls Sarah Jane "Old girl" a lot **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I don't own them and Grace is back.**

Sarah-Jane called Harry on her mobile and was spared any nerve wracking suspense as he answered on the first ring. Forgoing any pleasantries, Sarah-Jane told him hurriedly what had happened and that they were in desperate need of help. Harry didn't ask questions just told them to bring Luke to the hospital and that he would take care of the rest . Overwhelmed by emotions, Sarah-Jane thanked him, strangely almost tearfully grateful for his help, and hung up. She took a few breaths to think, before returning to the sick bay where Martha was monitoring Luke-he hadn't woken up since the Doctor carried him into the TARDIS. Wordlessly, Sarah-Jane sat on the chair that was pulled up to the bed, and reaching out she took his cold hand into her own . She wasn't used to seeing Luke like this, so helpless and vulnerable; she was used to her talkative inquisitive child. Luke had changed her life completely for the better in the short while since she had adopted him, and she couldn't imagine life without him in it.

Remaining silent out of respect, Martha watched her out of the corner of her eye-she could tell that Sara- Jane was terribly worried for her son and was clearly very fond of him. She loved him.

Martha had been surprised when the TARDIS had landed in a quiet suburban street in the present year, as opposed to shining planets with purple skies or the streets of long ago. The Doctor had initially planned to take her to a friendly planet, but of course the TARDIS had other ideas, and when the Doctor had spotted the brown haired lady with frantic expression on her face, his eyes had lit up and Martha had once again gotten the sense of lurking in yet another assistant's shadow. As he rushed to greet her she remained at a cool distance from beside the TARDIS, but when the woman started talking his eyes became stormy, and the two of them suddenly started to run off together. After a few hurt and irritated moments for Martha, the Doctor suddenly remembered he had another friend, charged back, grabbed her hand and tugged her along.

Her initial annoyance quickly vanished as they arrived at the warehouse full of sinister aliens that appeared human, but with cruelty in their eyes. Despite the Doctor's protests, Sarah-Jane immediately slapped one of them in the face, and started a small battle that Doctor quickly won with the help of the sonic screwdriver and a good old fashioned, pub-like brawl.

He sent a mildly injured and reluctant 'Sarah' back to the TARDIS. She agreed disgruntledly, but just to be safe he locked the doors behind them after he and Martha had proceeded into a corridor. A loud hammering sound and furious shouting suggested that he had been right to do so. He then pulled out a small lipstick triumphantly, grinning at Martha. "All too easy to steal when she wasn't looking."

"I don't think it's your colour," she had said scathingly. "Why did you take that?"

"It's sonic," he said proudly. She raised an eyebrow.

"Is there anything in the world that you haven't made sonic anymore?"

After a minute's distracted arguing over the pros and cons of sonic devices, they had dashed off on their quest. Finding Sarah-Jane's son was surprisingly simple, and when Martha saw the boy she was surprised at how young he appeared, perhaps because he was so terrified. That's when she noticed he was injured, and if she hadn't called the Doctor's attention to it he would have gone on talking forever.

Now she saw the mother and son together, both equally wounded by the dangerous lives they led, and could not and would not ever leave.

Giving them privacy she left to find the Doctor leaning against the TARDIS console, his brow furrowed in serious thought.

"…She has a son," he said after a few moments' silence.

"Yeah, she does," Martha said, confused at his stony expression. "So?"

"He's been injured," he replied simply, as though it explained everything. He looked up, frowning at her still blank expression. "The danger of the lives my friends lead is passed on. It's my fault-"

"Look, you can mope later," Martha interrupting firmly. "But right now we need to get to the hospital."

* * *

Harry had been surprised to hear Sarah-Jane's voice, surprised but pleased. They hadn't seen each other in over five years, and he was surprised to hear she had adopted a child, even more so when she told him he had been created by aliens to help take over Earth. Harry had been around aliens, heck he had travelled with one and met several, some good, some bad. He had assured and already panicked Sarah-Jane that no one was going to do a thorough background check on her child.

Sarah-Jane had instructed him to wait around the back of the hospital, and as he stood outside in the freezing cold, he puzzled over why she had made such a request. That is until he heard the familiar sound of temporal engines and saw a familiar blue box materialize before him. The door opened with a creek, and a young man with wild brown hair, a blue suit and red trainers stepped out, in his arms a young boy. Behind him two women stepped out. H immediately recognized Sarah-Jane-she may have been older, but she was still as attractive as ever and he couldn't help but smile at her despite the grim situation. He had no idea who the other raven haired woman was and he'd find out later; right now he had more pressing issues on hand.

Several minutes later, Harry had managed to get Luke a private room on the children's ward . He knew there was only person he trusted enough to do the surgery, a surgeon recently transferred from America-Grace Holloway. She knew the Doctor, but more importantly she had met Luke last month and Sarah-Jane had told her everything about him. When Sarah Jane heard the news, she was relieved that the surgery would be performed by someone she knew and trusted.

* * *

The one problem with being a genetically engineered child was that it meant that Luke did not stay passed out for that long, and he was awake sooner than Sarah-Jane or Martha thought he would be. The pain in his leg was agonising, and he had tried to push it out of his mind and keep his eyes closed against the hazy, indistinct world around him, muffled words occasionally breaking through.

At some point he must have lost consciousness completely, and when he finally opened his eyes he was in a unfamiliar room. The bed was not his, the sheets felt stiff and the walls were decorated with almost creepily smiling teddy bears and clowns, and he wasn't wearing his clothes, he was wearing a hospital gown, unnervingly to him like the ones he had been "born" in. But those had been white, and these were decorated the same way the walls were decorated -teddy bears and clowns. He vaguely wondered where he was. An uncomfortable pinching sensation in his right hand made him look down and he saw the IV, and everything came rushing back to him; Dr. Westers , the warehouse, being shot, the Doctor finding him. He looked around for Sarah-Jane, but the room was empty. He was alone, and quickly started panicking.

One of the nurses came hurrying into the room and she tried to calm him down, but Luke was in a blind panic and kept struggling against her, logic squashed by the basic human instinct to escape possible danger and fear.

"It's all right, just relax, love, it's going to be all right," The nurse said repeatedly, looking over her shoulder for another nurse desperately.

"I need Mum, where is she!?" Luke looked around frantically, but luckily for him and the slightly frightened nurse Sarah-Jane returned. She hurried to Luke's side and the nurse stepped back gratefully, letting Sarah- Jane take over.

She held Luke so tightly that she thought she might never be able to let go as she rocked him gently, running her fingers through his hair, keeping him close after fearing she'd lost him.

She hadn't wanted to leave, but Martha -seeing how tired she looked-insisted she get a coffee. They had assumed that since Luke was asleep they could grab a quick cup and be back upstairs before Luke woke up, but they were mistaken. Sarah-Jane had planned to go home to get a change of clothes and some stuff for Luke, but she didn't want to leave him again.

After a while, Harry came into the room.

"Is there anything you need, Old girl?" he asked with a cheeky grin. Sarah-Jane groaned, about to tell him off for what seemed like the umpteenth time about calling her 'Old Girl' when it occurred to her-she could send Harry to get the things she needed, at least Luke's stuff. She'd go back to the house tonight to get what she needed .

"As a matter of fact there is. I need you to go to the house and get some books that are sitting on the coffee table, then go upstairs to Luke's room -it's the first door on the right-and on the bed is a bear or it might be on the floor, bring that too, and some clothes. Here's the front key." Sarah-Jane chucked him the keys and Harry caught them expertly, looking mildly baffled at her sudden wave of commands .He was about to leave, when Sarah- Jane called him back, her voice steely but satisfied:

"Oh, and Harry-don't ever call me 'Old Girl'."

* * *

The surgery went quite well, all things considered. Luke had very nearly woken up halfway through the surgery and no one was expecting that-they had to quickly use more gas to put him back under. Normally with children they tried to use less gas, since children went under faster than adults, but it was apparent to Grace that Luke would need the adult dosage. It would be safer, but when he woke up he'd be terribly groggy and need to be monitored closely .

Sarah-Jane was sitting in the waiting room outside the OR, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket while nervously waiting for someone to come out. Several nail-biting hours after she had last seen Luke, Grace came walking towards her.

"The surgery went fine. He woke up halfway through, but I gave him the adult dosage of gas. Afterwards everything went fine. The nurses will be taking him back to his room, I hope you don't mind, but I think it's best if he stays at least a few days. He'll be groggy and he'll need to be monitored, I know he's well… different, but he's still a child and has a child's body and the adult dosage of gas is never given to anyone under the age of sixteen… we're not sure entirely sure what the side effects will be in his case," Grace explained to Sarah-Jane. She nodded sagging in relief; Luke was going to be fine, at least for now.

On Luke's second day in the hospital, Clyde and Maria came to visit, Maria bringing a traditional bunch of grapes that Luke found immensely random and confusing, smuggled Christmas biscuits, gossip about school and most importantly the buzz about Dr. Wester's disappearing act. Clyde came armed with a portable DVD player and dozens of DVDs, stating that just because Luke was in hospital it didn't get him out of learning how to be a normal teenager.

"Also, normal teenagers, don't exactly have teddie, it isn't cool," Clyde said, indicating the bear that was resting on the pillow.

"Shut up, Clyde." Maria hit him with the pillow, causing him to suddenly drop the smugly cool act and begin to whine at her. It had actually been her idea for Sarah-Jane to get Luke a teddy bear-she had been sleeping over and had been witness to his night terrors, and had suggested a bear for comfort. After all, she still had one, although that was a strict secret between herself and her Dad. Sarah-Jane had agreed and had gone to the toy shop, Maria and Luke in tow to purchase the bear. It didn't stop the night terrors, but it did seem to help slightly.

Luke didn't seem fazed by Clyde's words and the matter was dropped because in the end Clyde really didn't care-he was just glad was okay, although he'd never openly say so. When he heard from Maria, who heard from Sarah-Jane, that Luke was in hospital he had been terribly worried. He and Maria had called Sarah-Jane at lunchtime, bombarding her with questions. She had told them as much as she could, including breaking into their home and kidnapping Luke as well as her run in with the Doctor.

Clyde may be relieved that Luke was OK, but Maria felt drained after the crushing weight of the anxiety she felt, but light and happy as well as tired. She couldn't imagine her life if she hadn't seen that alien in Sarah-Jane's back garden or hadn't run into Luke at the Bubbleshock Factory, and she didn't want to either.

She leaned back against the pillow beside Luke, watching as Clyde set up the portable DVD player, Luke resting his head on her shoulder. She smiled and held his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze that she hoped would help tell him how grateful he was for him to be here, alive and well.

Clyde hit play and leaned back in the armchair, smirking slightly and watching Luke and Maria out of the corner of his eye. If Luke had been the age he appeared to be Clyde would say that Luke had a crush on Maria, but he doubted that Luke knew anything about that sort of love. Of course, he might still feel it, but wouldn't know what it was. In his mind, for now at least, Maria was just a friend to him.

Clyde certainly hoped so, or he would have some very awkward explaining ahead.

**Next : Christmas stuff next**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I don't own anyone, I started this, but didn't like the direction it was going, so I deleted it and re-wrote this chapter.**

* * *

"Seriously, you have the worst luck," Clyde said, seemingly in awe at the awfulness of his friend's life.

Maria, Luke and Clyde were walking home from school, having just found out about the school's Secret Santa and who they had gotten.

"I know," Luke said, for once painfully aware of the situation's awkwardness.

"I mean, Kelsey? Out of everyone you could have gotten, and you get her?" Clyde plowed on. "Did you break a million mirrors or something?"

"…No. Why?" Luke looked completely baffled. "What do mirrors have to do with this?"

"It's supposed to be unlucky to break a mirror," Maria explained. He still looked puzzled.

"Why?"

"Because…I don't know," Maria said, frowning. "If you think about it it's actually quite weird."

"Anyway, I got Leanne for my Secret Santa," Clyde said with a happy grin as he thought of the attractive girl from his English class. "What about you, Maria?"

"I don't even know who she is!" Maria groaned, taking the slip of paper out of her pocket. "Do you know Ali Turner?"

"Never heard of her, I've only been here the same amount of time as you, remember," Clyde said, shrugging. Maria sighed in annoyance.

"This was a dumb idea," she said, stuffing the paper back into her pocket. "I mean, now I have to get a present for someone I don't even know!"

"And I have to get Kelsey something," Luke said, cringing at the thought.

"Well, that's teachers for you," Clyde said wisely. "Thick, the lot of them."

* * *

They finally had a tree.

It was sitting in the corner of the front room, filling the place with the smell of pine. It wasn't decorated yet and looked terribly bare, as Sarah-Jane hadn't gotten around to digging out the few decorations she had lying around or buying any new ones. She knew once it was decorated the tree would be worth the needles it dropped all over her carpet. So that afternoon, after Luke returned home from school, they set off for the shops.

The place was crowded uncomfortably with people trying to get gifs and other Christmas related items while there was still time-Christmas was just a week away and Sarah-Jane still needed to figure out what to do for Christmas dinner. She would have liked a traditional one with all the trimmings, but realistically they were more than likely going to end up with a take-away; she would more than likely burn anything she tried to make, and that would be Luke's first memory of Christmas dinner, burnt dinner with all the charred trimmings.

Sarah-Jane was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't realize Luke was trying to get his attention until he began to in a very loud, whiny annoyed way that Clyde had taught him.

"Muuuum!" he drew the word out so it had about five syllables instead of one, and Sarah-Jane turned her attention to him.

"Could I look for something for Maria? And Kelsey because I still need to get her something. But I actually want to get Maria something," Luke said earnestly.

Sarah-Jane hesitated; on the one hand, she needed to start to let him do things for himself, and he was sensible enough. On the other hand, it was an enormous mall that would be like a maze filled with things to temp his unquenchable curiosity, and he could get into trouble.

But she didn't want to become one of those overbearing, paranoid mothers. So it was with some reluctance that she let him go-or let him loose-by himself, with strict instructions to stay on the first floor only. As she watched him go off alone, becoming swallowed up by the crowd, she wondered anxiously if she had made the right choice…

* * *

Ten minutes later in the middle of paying for her purchases, Sarah-Jane's mobile went off.

"Sorry," she said to the young woman at the till, who gave her a strained smile from behind the mountain of shopping bags on the counter in front of her. Wrestling with the bags she was already carrying, Sarah-Jane managed to tug her phone from her pocket. She was surprised and horrified to hear that it was mall security asking her to come down to the office immediately.

In a rush she gathered up her things, checked she had her sonic lipstick (she could never be too careful) and headed to the security office, already mentally steeling herself for a fight.

The office itself turned out to be in a basement type area of the mall, which wasn't as sinister as it sounded-it was a brightly lit, innocent looking place where seasonal decorations were stored. Still, experience having taught her never to be too relaxed, she flipped up her scanner, which revealed no alien traces. She was relieved, but a little embarrassed at herself; aliens didn't inhabit every area of the Earth, yet whenever anything mildly suspicious or uncomfortable occurred she expected the worst.

She pushed open the door to the security office, and was met with the sight of a woman sitting behind a desk, jabbering away rapidly on the phone. Sarah-Jane stood directly in front her, raising her eyebrows when the woman said practically ignored her.

"Excuse me," she said loudly and pointedly. The woman glanced at her as though just noticing she was there, then jerked her head in the direction of a door to the right of the room, then swiveled her chair around completely so her back was to Sarah-Jane.

Sighing at the woman's lack of any sort of manners, Sarah-Jane decided to leave her to it and went through the door she had been so rudely directed to. She stopped dead after entering, the door drifting shut behind her with a click.

Two security officers, one burly and one almost comically scrawny, were sitting behind computers, but her attention was focused and elsewhere-Luke was sitting on a chair, with one wrist actually handcuffed to it. At her entrance, he looked up at her guiltily. Although there were no tears, she knew she had either been crying or wanted to, and fury bubbled inside her; he'd been through enough without whatever this was adding to it.

She cleared her throat loudly, and the burly officer looked up with a bored expression on his face.

"May I help you?" he asked, sounding as though he didn't want to help anyone.

"Yes, actually, you can," she replied sharply, marching over to him. "Would you care to explain why my son is sitting handcuffed to a chair?" she demanded to know, gesturing at him furiously.

"Procedure, ma'am," the officer said, but this wasn't a satisfactory answer in her opinion. In some places it used to be procedure to make human sacrifices, that didn't mean it was right.

"Since _when_ is it procedure to handcuff children in mall security offices?" Sarah-Jane asked, scandalized.

"It's procedure for shoplifters," the officer replied, giving her his full attention and seemingly enjoying the shocked look she knew must be on her face.

"What?"

"I didn't, I really didn't," Luke spoke up quickly, and the security officer rolled his eyes and continued as if he hadn't spoken.

"Your son left a store without paying, and when he was caught he used to same old stupid excuse-'he was going to pay for it.' This mall has had too many kids thinking it's fun to shoplift, and we're putting a stop to it," he said firmly.

Sarah-Jane bit back a groan-she had a feeling she knew what happened. Luke had probably left to show her what he had chosen for Maria, and had never been in a mall before. Whether he thought it was OK as long as he was inside the building or it simply wasn't quite drilled into him how to behave in shops, she knew that he would never have done something wrong on purpose.

"You don't understand," she tried to explain, "he would never do this, he wasn't shoplifting…" she trailed off, infuriated to see that the officer looked amused-she knew he must hear this from mothers all the time, but that was no excuse for his attitude. "Look, it's hard to explain, but he…doesn't understand some things. Please," she said, resorting to pleading, "I know he's innocent."

"Needless to say, he was caught and the owner wants to press charged. He's tired of kids trying to steal his stuff," the officer said, sounding bored.

Sarah-Jane thought that was overkill, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Luke go very pale.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary. If…If I talk to the owner and explain the mistake I'm certain he won't press charges," she said, more for Luke's benefit than anything else; she wasn't at all certain.

Luckily, after a few more outbursts on her part, the officers agreed and undid the cuffs holding Luke. The minute he was free, he jumped up and ran to Sarah-Jane, throwing his arms around her.

Only a few minutes later they were heading to the shop in question, but when they got close Luke suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the bustling crowd of people getting last minute shopping done. It took her a moment to realize he had, and when she turned to look at him he had the same look of absolute terror that he had had when Dr. Westers was holding a gun to him. Like a rabbit in the headlights. "Luke, it's going to be all right," she said, doubling back to him. "We'll just explain that it was a mistake, he'll understand." She hoped she would. "He will, or he'll have me to answer to." He looked slightly more reassured, and she reached out and took his hand, pulling him gently but forcefully into the shop.

The place was interesting and quirky, its shelves lined with knick-knacks and other miscellaneous items for sale. Behind a solid oak desk the owner was helping a customer-he was an old man with shining grey hair and laugh lines on his face-he looked like someone's grandfather, and seemed nice enough and-hopefully-that would mean reasonable and compassionate.

The customer gathered up her purchases and thanked the man, who cheerfully waved her away with a warm smile as she left.

"Next please," he said, and Sarah-Jane tugged a once again frozen Luke forwards. She didn't know which was worse-the stage when he hadn't known when he was doing something wrong and went ahead and did it anyway without a care in the world afterwards, or when he did for once look to the future and render himself struck dumb with terror.

She placed the items that had caused all the trouble-a book and a small figure of an angel-on the counter.

"My son forgot to pay for these," she said. "Security got involved, I've come to explain the mistake." There was a short pause after she had spoken while the man looked Luke up and down, as if hoping to see either a halo or devil horns sprout from his head to clear up whether or not he was innocent. Instead, he took in the fact that he looked scared out of his mind, and his voice was tinted with sympathy when he spoke.

"I understand, but actually it's my son you should talk to-he's the owner. I just help out. If you wait here, I'll go and get him." The man turned and headed through a door of bead curtains to the back, and a few moments later a middle aged man came out.

"So you 'forgot' to pay for these items," he said disbelievingly, a look of derision on his face. "A likely story, you kids come in here, nick my stuff and act like it's no big deal. When you're caught, you whine that you forgot. Well, listen closely you little hoodlum, I'm pressing charges, and that goes for any other kids that think they could get away with it. Tell all your little mates that."

For a moment, despite the situation he was in and in between wondering where the idea of 'nicking' something came from, possibly a 'hoodlum' called Nick who stole things, Luke couldn't help but think of Clyde. Then the realization of what could happen hit him.

Sarah-Jane saw Luke, who looked like he was going to be sick, and felt strangely calm as she spoke, at the same time as feeling something fiery stir inside her.

"Luke, go and sit on the bench outside. I'll be there as soon as I can," she said gently, and then-the second her was certain to be out of earshot-she turned to face the man.

"How dare you? My son made a mistake! He is not a hoodlum, he's a good kid! He just wanted to show me the items and forgot to pay!" she shouted, all traced of the calm before the storm gone. She took a deep breath, and continued coolly, "Now, I'm willing to pay for the things. But don't you ever call my son a hoodlum again." The owner looked perplexed at her outburst, and she took the opportunity to slam the money onto the counter before storming out, still raging but mildly pleased with herself.

"Oh for God's sake," she groaned-Luke wasn't on the bench. She looked around for him, and exasperation was replaced with panic that didn't subside until she saw Luke hurrying over to him. She grabbed his wrist when he got near.

"I told you to sit on the bench! I wish you wouldn't wander off like that!" she scolded.

"I needed the loo," Luke said, confused why Sarah-Jane was so upset-he never saw her like that, and it worried him. "…I'm sorry?"

Stressed and tired, Sarah-Jane wanted a quiet car ride home. So when Luke opened his mouth, she snapped at him viciously, and instantly regretted it at the hurt looked on his face.

"I'm sorry, Luke," she apologized. He didn't say anything. She didn't know if it was because he was afraid to or because he didn't want to speak to her. Either way it made her feel worse.

The minute they got home and inside, Luke ran upstairs without as single word. Sarah-Jane heard his slam, and sighed. She hadn't meant to snap at him like that, he didn't deserve to have her stress taken out on him.

Trying to push the thoughts to the back of her mind she headed into the kitchen, got a plate down and opened a tray of chocolate biscuits. After arranging them on a plate and making some hot chocolate, she took the peace offering upstairs.

She rapped on Luke's door, but got no answer, so opened it a crack and looked inside. He had fallen asleep on his bed on top of the duvet, and Sarah-Jane was struck by how terribly young he looked. She walked in quietly, making her footsteps as soft as she could, and set down the tray on the nightstand. She perched on the edge of the bed and tutted as she pushed his hair out of his face-he needed a haircut.

Guilt still eating away at her, but resigned to the fact that she couldn't talk to him without waking him, she removed his shoes and covered him with a blanket before leaving him alone and going downstairs, feeling deflated. She was a terrible mother. She needed to speak to someone, anyone about this, and for once in her life accept she needed help. Not Mr. Smith-he was good, but had no emotions. She briefly considered talking to the parents of Clyde or Maria, but they wouldn't understand her position fully, and to be completely honest Chrissie's advice wouldn't exactly be valuable.

In the end she dialed the Brigadier's number and was glad when Liz answered. In half an hour, Liz was making tea in Sarah-Jane's kitchen and lending an ear while she explained everything."

"…and then I snapped at him, and he didn't deserve it. I'm a terrible mother, I'm not cut out for this."

Liz reached over and put her hand over Sarah-Jane's. "You're not a terrible mother. You're only human, and I'm sure Luke knows you didn't mean to snap at him." She looked at the slightly younger woman more closely. "You look a bit stressed, darling. Maybe you should go out. Have a nice dinner, see a movie…?"

"Oh, I couldn't. Luke hasn't had dinner and I can't leave him alone," Sarah-Jane protested, although part of her wanted to take Liz up on her offer.

"That's easily sorted, I'll stay here with Luke and make dinner and you can just go and enjoy yourself. You deserve it. Being a mum as well as saving the world from aliens is a full time job," Liz insisted with a smile.

Sarah-Jane, after some weak protests, finally agreed.

"I'll be back by ten," she promised.

"Midnight," Liz said, opening the refrigerator and surveying the contents. Sarah-Jane didn't reply as Liz started rummaging through the fridge contents, only shook her head and smiled before picking up her bag from the chair and leaving.

Liz found some beef and vegetables, and was chopping them up when-

"Aunt Liz?" Luke was standing in the kitchen, looking as though he had wandered in by mistake as he started at her then looked around the room with sleepy confusion.

"Hello love," Liz said, abandoning the vegetables and giving Luke a hug.

"Um…where's mum?" he asked, looking a little taken aback by her warmth.

"Sarah was just a bit stressed and needed a break, so she went out for a bit," Liz explained.

"Are you staying?" he asked. Liz nodded, and went back to the vegetables.

"After I finish preparing dinner would you like to make some Christmas biscuits and decorate the tree to surprise your Mum?" she suggested, thinking that perhaps he wanted something to occupy himself with.

He nodded eagerly. He thought if the tree was decorated at last, maybe Sarah-Jane wouldn't be so upset when she came home. He voiced these thoughts to Liz, prompting her to hug him yet again.

"Sarah wasn't really mad at you, my sweet."

"She yelled at me. People only yell if they're mad," Luke pointed out bluntly.

Liz knew that he struggled sometimes with people's emotions, having not experienced them enough to quite grasp the complexity, and that to him Sarah-Jane snapping was the equivalent to being yelled at in his eyes.

She tried to explain that Sarah-Jane was just stressed and hadn't meant to snap, and hoped he understood. He seemed to at least look as though he did.

Liz went back to and finished preparing dinner, and after eating they began baking. They spent the next hour and a half preparing biscuits, and when Liz looked over she was glad to see her was actually smiling as he talked to her about school, his friend Maria and Clyde, and even the aliens they'd fought.

* * *

When Sarah-Jane returned home several hours later, she entered to a house that smelled like freshly made biscuits, and when she entered the front room it was to find the tree twinkling with lights and fully decorated. Liz was on the armchair, reading.

"How was it?" Sarah-Jane asked, breaking the peaceful silence. Liz looked up and smiled, putting the book to one side.

"Oh, it was fine. Luke came down a few minutes after you left and I explained things to him," she said. "I think he understood."

"Is he in bed?"

"Yes, I sent him up about fifteen minutes ago-he looked a bit tired, but he might still be awake," Liz said, standing and picking up her handbag from the arm of the chair. She gave Sarah-Jane a knowing smile. "You know, if you want to speak to him. Now, I better be off. I'll call you."

Sarah-Jane walked her to the door then, after watching Liz drive off, she headed upstairs. Luke was still awake, and to her relief and happy surprise he looked happy to see her, launching himself into her arms the minute she sat down. She held him, relieved to see he seemed so much better and had forgiven her-whatever Liz had told him had worked.

"Are you okay? You know I didn't mean to snap at you," she said as they pulled apart.

"Aunt Liz said you were stressed, that's why you snapped. I understand, but I don't like when you snap." Luke looked up at her, and she tried her best to look reassuring.

"I know, and I promise I won't snap at you again when I get stressed," she promised.

Luke slid underneath the covers. "We baked biscuits," he said, almost asleep.

"I know, they smelled wonderful. We'll take them to Maria's tomorrow if you want," Sarah-Jane said, then she turned off the light and was about to leave when Luke grabbed her hand.

"I still didn't get the gifts for Maria or Kelsey," he mumbled, and she nearly laughed at how urgent he was.

"Shh, we'll get them tomorrow," Sarah-Jane said. She got no reply and, looking down, saw Luke was asleep. She smiled softly. She was not a terrible mother-Luke was fine. Next week would be Christmas, and so far there had been no alien threats in the past few days. Hopefully it would be a time for peace.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer : I own Barry and his friends and the teacher.**

Luckily, Christmas came and went smoothly. Well, as smoothly as things could be expected-Sarah-Jane did indeed destroy the turkey (when Clyde heard he nearly cried) and after a few days of Luke anxiously pacing about, Maria had stormed into town, bought a DVD and quite literally thrown Kelsey's secret santa present at her during lunch. No aliens intent on destroying them, though, which had been a plus.

Around that time, the Doctor had also shown up unexpectedly. Apparently he had lost control of the TARDIS and found it had taken him to Sarah-Jane's house. Strangely, he had decided to stay, and was welcomed by a tearful Sarah-Jane.

That is, until she saw that the TARDIS had landed on her flowerbed. For a while it had been funny when the Doctor and Luke talked in what seemed like complete gibberish to each other, but eventually even Luke noticed it was annoying her.

Now they had eased back into the school routine, things began to get complicated all over again. Clyde had an odd crowd of friends that constantly changed, what with most of them getting expelled every few days.

"I don't understand," Maria had hissed to him after he had stopped in a corridor to fist-bump one of his 'mates'. "Why do you hang around with them? What's wrong with just us?"

"I just do, it's-"

"An 'image thing'?"Maria asked scathingly, repeating what he had said so many times before after acting like a complete moron. "For God's sake, Clyde, grow a backbone!"

"Look, you're my best mates," he assured them, while Luke tried to figure out exactly why Maria thought Clyde didn't have a backbone. "You should be grateful! To be honest, if it wasn't for me, you both probably would have been beaten up by now."

"BUT-"

"Ooh, cake!" At this point they had entered the canteen, Clyde becoming immediately distracted by the offering of a chocolate cake, and hurried off, leaving Maria and Luke staring after him in disbelief.

"An 'image thing'," Maria muttered to herself, shaking her head, then sighed. "We'll just have to deal with it, I suppose."

But, unknown to Maria, it would do more harm than good. One of Clyde's 'friends' was a boy named Barry, and Clyde's link to Luke caught his attention. Barry thought of that group as his gang, there could be no outsiders, especially not someone like him. Unless he could use it to his advantage.

Luke was the type of boy who did the right thing. Which, unfortunately, in some cases was no always the best thing. When Clyde and Maria heard that Luke had told the teacher that Barry had demanded he did his homework for him, their reactions were confusing to him.

"What kind of coffin do want?" Clyde had immediately asked sarcastically. "Because if he finds out you're going to be dead! You don't grass people up like that!"

"Stop it," Maria told Clyde firmly, looking extremely worried. "Maybe...maybe it will be OK, after all Barry deserves it and-"

"Do you think he's going to hear and say 'oh, never mind I deserve it'?! No!" Seeing the look on Luke's face, he took control on his anger and said calmly, "Look, he can only do something if you're alone. Stick with one of us and you'll be fine." Maria nodded in agreement, while Luke stared at the floor. He might not be great at seeing where his actions would always end up, but he knew he had put his friends under great strain.

The morning passed uneventfully, and-true to their word-neither Maria or Clyde let Luke out of their sight for one minute. But they couldn't be with him all the time.

During science, a small, terrified year seven scurried in (ignoring the immediate jeers of most of the class) and handed the note he was clutching to the teacher, before sprinted from the room as fast as his tiny legs could carry him.

"You're wanted in the Head's Office, Luke," the teacher said upon opening the note. More jeers followed this statement, but unlike last time Clyde didn't doing in, remaining stony faced.

"I want to go with him, miss," he said, not trusting the note in the slightest. Luke's own worries were deepened at Clyde's suspicion, and his hopes plummeted as the teacher answered.

"Nice try Clyde, but you're staying right here in science to learn whether you like it or not," she said, and Clyde opened his mouth furiously only to be silences by her daring look. "In any case, Luke is perfectly capable of going by himself. Off you go," she said, nodding at him.

He stood up, and walked across the room, knowing Clyde was watching him right up until the moment he left. But that wasn't enough.

Outside, the halls were silent and empty, and his footsteps echoed as he walked to the Head's office, his knock on the door even louder. After a few moments, the secretary opened it and looked at him with a questioning smile.

"Did you need something, love?" she asked.

"I was told I had to come and see the Head," Luke said, already starting to get a bad feeling at the secretary's surprised look.

"He never mentioned anything...hang on, let me check." She headed back into the Head's office, and after a few minutes came back out.

"I think someone must have made a mistake," she said. "Or was winding you up."

Trying not to look too anxious, Luke nodded, thanked her and left. He walked twice as quickly as he normally would, intending to get back to the safety of the class room, but hadn't even got halfway there before someone grabbed him from behind and slammed his back against the lockers. Pain exploded at the back of his head and stars danced before his eyes, momentarily blinding him before he saw who the culprit was-it wasn't much of a surprise.

"I knew you were a nerd, but I didn't know you were a grass too," Barry hissed, a small cluster of his usual entourage standing behind him. Luke tried to duck out of his grip, but he grabbed him and shoved him back, his arm pressing painfully against his throat. His eyes were cold as he sneered.

"You know I nearly got excluded because of you," he said, the danger practically burning red hot in his low voice. "I think you need to be taught a lesson. So you never ever do anything like this again." He released his grip but threw him to the floor, standing over him, and raised his voice. "What do you think, guys?" His mates shouted their agreement, or nodded, and Luke hoped that someone might hear them. But no one did, and Barry smiled down at him coldly, the way a tiger would smile at its prey if it could.

The next five minutes were the most painful of Luke's short life-the only contender was when he had been shot, but even then that had just been his leg. Now every part him burned or ached-he had been slammed against the metal lockers so many times it was a struggle to stay conscious, but even when he collapsed to the floor once more they descended upon him, taking turns kicking him. Eventually, they seemed to get bored of the torture, and Barry deliver one last kick to his face. Luke felt hot blood gush from his nose, and then they ran, leaving him on the floor, broken and bruised.

Too exhausted to even try to stand, he simply remained there, even the smallest movement causing his body to scream in protest.

Thinking of what would happen if he was found like this, the questions that would be asked, he forced himself to sit up and then struggled to stand. The room spun wildly, tilting so he fell against the walls as he limped to the bathroom and stumbled inside. He leant against the sinks, and when he let go he saw the startlingly red imprint of blood his hand had left against the white. He grabbed several paper towels, and the room spun again and he gripped the sink, his hand slipping forwards in his own blood. When he looked up and saw himself in the mirror, he was shocked and even more terrified by what he saw. He could have just escaped from a car accident-his face was smeared with blood, with a purplish bruise forming under one eye amongst others blossoming on his skin, just visible beneath the crimson blood that had flown from his nose and a small but deep and jagged cut above his left eye where it had caught the corner of one of the lockers. Tentatively, he put his hand to the back of his head. As he had suspected, it came away wet and covered in blood.

He couldn't go back to class and couldn't stay in the toilets after-someone was sure to come in. So he cleaned himself up as best as he could, and flushed away the towels to be sure they weren't found, and left to make his way out of the school. He would go to Maria's-Sarah-Jane couldn't be allowed to see him as we was.

He was tiring and leaning against the wall for support, despairing over how he would even manage to reach Maria's if he couldn't even get out of the building, when a voice rang out.

"Just what are you doing out of class?" an unfamiliar teacher was marching towards him, then stopped short. "What…come with me," she said more gently, taking his arm and steering him down the corridor, forcing him to keep up with her quick pace.

She took him to the school nurse, who had dealt with this kind of situation more than once.

"Who did this to you?" she asked as she checked him over. He only shook his head, and she stiffened then turned his it to one side, catching sight of the blood. She sighed wearily. "Right, hospital," she said.

"No, you can't!" Luke said in alarm. "Call my mum first-"

"Nonsense, you might have a concussion. You can call her from the hospital, I'll have one of the teachers drive you." She headed out, and Luke tried to stand to make a run for it, but found it to be impossible. The nurse returned a few minutes later, Miss Berns at her side.

Despite his protests they were insistent, and within half an hour he was sitting on a hospital bed while a nurse took his blood pressure. He looked up when Miss Berns walked in after calling home.

"You're mum wasn't in, but your dad is on his way," she informed him. For a moment he was confused, before realising she must have meant the Doctor. He brightened considerably, and didn't bother correcting the teacher. It wasn't long before the Doctor himself strolled in.

_line break_

Glad he had been in the house and not the TARDIS when Luke's teacher had called (Sarah-Jane had left to interview a woman whose flat was going to be torn down to make room for a mini mall) the Doctor quickly lied, claiming to be Luke's adopted father, and that he would be there as soon as he could. Sarah-Jane had taken the car and the TARDIS materializing would take a lot of explaining. So he called Martha, who luckily lived fairly close to Sarah-Jane, who readily agreed they could use her car. But after reaching the house, she was dubious about his driving skills. Or lack of, for that matter.

"I'm a brilliant driver," the Doctor protested when she said this to him, admiring the slick, shiny car of Martha's. He opened the door and slid onto the leather seat, grinning. For primitive technology the car was quite nice. Rolling her eyes at his childlike excitement-Timelord or not, he was the same as any man-Martha leaned over the open window.

"So what do you need this for anyway?" she asked. "Why can't you walk or take the TARDIS?"

"Me? Walk? I need to pick up Luke from the hospital as quickly as I can, and I don't need to TARDIS to go ten minutes away. Plus I don't think a Police Box suddenly appearing in a place swarming with CCTV is a great idea," the Doctor said, putting his hands on the wheel. "So I'm doing the domestic thing." He looked at the controls of the car and frowned; it had been a while since he driven and Earth car, back in the seventies before the Time War.

"So…" He pointed at the play button for the stereo. "Is that the on button?"

Martha rolled her eyes. "Out," she commanded, jerking her head. Reluctantly the Doctor got out and went to sit in the passenger seat, and Martha slipped in the other side, starting up the car with ease.

The entire journey to the hospital, the Doctor whined about how slow they were going, and 'couldn't they just bend the rules and speed up a bit?' They arrived not a moment too soon.

_Line break_

When they arrived home, they didn't go into the house. Instead they headed round to the back garden and into the TARDIS, where they sat in the sick bay doing everything they could to improve Luke's disheveled appearance and well being.

Luke relayed everything that happened to the Doctor, wincing slightly as he recalled certain parts of the event. When he had finished, the Doctor looked vaguely disgusted, and Martha looked over to him.

"I think Sarah-Jane should know about this," she said.

"This Barry…he's the one who was forcing you to do his homework?" The Doctor checked, but Luke shook his head.

"Don't tell mum," he pleaded. "There's no point, and she'll only worry. I don't want her to. It'll be Dr Westers all over again." Normally he hated keeping secrets-it felt like lying-but she couldn't get involved, and she already had several things to worry about when it came to him already. He didn't want to be responsible for adding anything else.


End file.
